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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Sowing What You Want To Reap, #3
Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. (James 2:21-23)
The Apostle Paul used the patriarch Abraham as an example of righteousness apart from the Law of Moses. Abraham believed the promise of God, and on that basis righteousness was ascribed to him.
Many years later God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as an offering to God. If Abraham had refused to do this he no longer would have been righteous in God's sight.
The Christian discipleship is a prolonged act of repentance, that is, one of turning away from our sinful nature and sowing to please the Spirit of God. The Spirit counsels us and guides us continually, for this is the only path to eternal life.
As long as we keep on listening to Christ, obeying Him implicitly, maintaining our faith in Him, God counts us as righteous. The grace of God assists us with every Divine means, and holds us guiltless because we are obeying God. This God can do because of the atonement made by Jesus Christ on the cross.
Now, how does the law of sowing and reaping fit into the program of repentance, that is, of continually turning away from our sinful nature and embracing the ways of the Spirit of God?
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Let us take the first area, that of love. Our sinful nature is prone to hate, to seek revenge, to be spiteful and bitter. As we walk with the Spirit of God, the Spirit delivers us from hatred and bitterness, bringing forth Divine love in us.
Here is the point: as we choose to put away the hatred and bitterness, the malice and vengeful attitude, and embrace God's love, we are sowing to the Spirit of God. We may or may not reap love in this life, but it is certain we will reap love in the ages to come.
But if we, as a Christian, do not walk with the Spirit of God, do not put away hatred and bitterness, do not bring forth Divine love in our behavior, we will reap hatred, bitterness, malice, and a vengeful attitude now, and then in the ages that lie ahead of us.
Can you see that it is not a matter of being forgiven and going to Heaven? It is a matter of the kind of relationships we will enjoy in Heaven, and then on the earth when the Lord returns.
We cannot sow hatred and reap love. This cannot be. Though God were to forgive us our acts of hatred, we still would have a hateful personality; and that hateful personality would continue to destroy us.
To be continued.