May 19, AD 2011

Sowing and Reaping
Frank Allnutt

Ranchers here in the central Colorado Rockies are in the business of raising hay and cattle and earning a fair return on their investments.

The calving season is almost over, and the new crop of calves are what has been reaped from last year’s end-of-summer breeding time. As usual, some cows and new-borns were lost to coyotes, though none were lost to the weather, as over the winter we had little snow and no prolonged periods of sub-zero cold.

This time of spring around here is also the start of the haying season. Existing hay fields have been harrowed and are being irrigated, and new fields have been tilled and seeded. In about six weeks, the first cutting of hay will begin, and if run-off water from snow melt in the mountains continues till late summer, there will be a second cutting of hay.

Every rancher and farmer knows that what he reaps will, in large part, depend upon his expertise in breeding, raising, and marketing cattle, and in tilling the land, sowing seed, and harvesting crops.

Sowing and reaping are examples of what all of us encounter in life: For the most part, what we get out of life depends on what we put into life.

Most of us who are Christians are familiar with the Bible’s work ethic. But familiarity and practice do not always go hand-in-hand. One short passage, while expressed in the language of agriculture, pertains to us all:

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:7-10).

To keep this crucial, ethical principle before my eyes and in my heart every day, I have placed a picture with a verse of Scripture over it in the most conspicuous place in our old ranch house.

It is a picture I took a while back of the dawning of a new day over the ranch, and superimposed Scripture that reads: “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men...” (Colossians 3:23). By memory, I know the rest of the teaching: “...knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality” (Colossians 3:23b-25).

If we sow half-heartedly, we sow to the flesh and reap “fruit for death” (Romans 7:5):

If we sow whole-heartedly, we sow to the indwelling Spirit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and reap “fruit for God” (Romans 7:4):

As I consider the times in which we live, I often wonder: What if all of us who call ourselves “Christian”—whether a master or a slave, or a preacher at the pulpit or a believer in the pew—were to live whole-heartedly, day-by-day and moment-by-moment, in the unfathomable grace of our Heavenly Father?

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©Copyright AD2011 Frank Allnutt. All rights reserved. Content herein may be quoted, subject to the "fair use" doctrine of U.S. Copyright Law.

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