sowing and reaping

I try my very best to be a careful, cautious, and courteous driver. Because of that I have expectations that others will be as well… but the reality is, some are not! The other day, April and I left the house and a block from home I had an ambulance pull out in front of me with their emergency lights and or siren NOT on. Gees! Then about a mile later I had a driver cut me off and I had to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting them. As it turned out, they pulled into the same drive-thru we did.

That restaurant provides two lanes to place your order. I was finished placing ours and proceeded to pull forward. That same driver, who had already cut me off once, gave it the gas and cut me off again! I had to hit the brakes hard and then I laid on the horn to show my disapproval. I begin complaining to April about this person’s attitude. I don’t think she wanted to hear it!

On my way back home, after dropping April off at work, I felt bad for allowing this particular person to affect my attitude! I begin praying about it. I felt better. Then I started praying for the individual. I stopped mid prayer and thought, “What kind of a day is this person going to have?” I assumed a very bad one.

I imagine this type of person is the one in the office you cringe every time you have to encounter them. Whether for their time sheet, office supplies, or for information you need to include on the report your boss asked you to write. You know the type. You have met one, or two in your career, I’m sure.

Here is how I know they were going to have a bad day; that driver sowed “evil”! Therefore, they will reap “evil” That is a universal law that God put in place; you reap what you sow. I still prayed for them, but I refocused the words. I prayed they would come to know God, and that his love would fill them as they become like him.

If you are experiencing a lot of bad things and bad people with bad attitudes, perhaps you should consider what you are sowing? It’s not always the case but you can never escape this one universal law.

Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. Gal. 6:7-8 (MSG)

I have walked with God for a very long time. So when I begin to get a new download of revelation, wisdom, and understanding it surprised me a little. Not that I know everything about God, not even close. I know, it sounds silly to be so caught off guard, but this latest knowledge is so beautiful, hard to comprehend, and so Jesus.

I am beginning to learn about, and walk out the principal of sowing into someone else’s need(s) even though you have big needs of your own. I had been praying about earning some extra money. Currently paying the cost of two households in two different countries was never part of my retirement plan. I budgeted enough to last 7 years, from my retirement, to when I could start drawing Social Security, and it was working, but God had other plans He didn’t let me in on. With that said, since me getting married again was his idea, I am confident He will provide for his plans to be carried out. But there is something about being human, we want to figure it out ourselves, and at times, do it ourselves.

So when my friend offered to pay me to help him with a construction project I was excited. I thought, Oh cool. This is the answer to my prayer of earning some extra money. At least until God said, “No.” He instructed me to sow into my friend’s needs. Financial, social, and emotional. So that is what I decided to do. It’s exciting to witness God minister to someone and it’s humbling that He would do that through me.

I didn’t realize how bad off my friend was, but after spending several hours with him, working, laughing, but also talking I heard the voice of a man who was about to break. Coming along side of someone and walking with them through a need in their life is powerful. Just simply being there with them speaks volumes. My friend is doing better.

I was busy writing this post when my wife called. We speak every day via Messenger, so I wasn’t surprised. She was upset, and upon further discussion we recognized she would have the opportunity to sow into someone’s need there in the Philippines. It’s a bigger need, which means it’s a bigger challenge, but not one that God can’t handle.

How do you sow into someone else’s need?

Submit your own needs to God, and trust him.
See the need of someone else.
Decide to get your hands dirty by getting involved.
Spend the amount of time needed, or be willing to provide the resources required to meet their need.
Give all the glory to God

Do all this despite your own needs, but then watch what God begins to do in your own life. I was talking to a friend this morning, sharing my past week when I realized all of the miracles God did in my life. Thank you God for teaching my wife and I this valuable principle and then giving us the opportunity to walk it out.