The knowledge that what one sows one shall reap is a great incentive to everyone in the service of God to engage assiduously and relentlessly in well-doing all the time. No matter the huge size of the amount or quality of what one does no quantum of its reward will God shift to someone else but he will surely pay it to you. It is not a case of “one labours and another reaps”. The only thing that would cause one to lose one’s reward is when one backslides or one is unable to be steadfast till the end.
It was St. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, who in his epistolary exhortation to the Galatian Christians, stated: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”-Gal. 6:7
No one should be under any illusion that one is able to hide anything from God or that, like mortal man, He can be fooled. “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” (Jer. 23:24) And St. Paul stated that we are all naked before His eyes (Heb. 4:13) Therefore, whatsoever we do, good or bad, we shall give account of ourselves and shall be fully rewarded in due time.
A farmer who sows com must at the time of harvest reap corn, and the one who plants yam should reap yam. This knowledge that is common to all the apostle used to illustrate what we should expect from God for our doings. If we do good our reward shall be good; similarly, if we do evil nothing but evil we should also expect as our reward either in this world or in the world to come. And the apostle also stated: “Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.”-Eph. 6:8.
The Bible abounds with instances of wicked people like Pharaoh who know not Joseph, King Saul, Jezebel, Absalom, Elymas and so on, who in their days were rewarded or punished for their evil deeds. The case of Abimelech, son of Gideon, who killed his 70 brothers to become king, is a striking example, He, the son of a concubine, conspired with his mother’s people of Shechem who gave him support to hire a bunch of worthless scoundrels, vain persons, to join him to kill his father’s children as to become king which was not his right.
It did not end well with nor did it end well with men of Shechem who conspired with him. They fought themselves and Abimelech destroyed the city and set on fire the tower where about a thousand men and women took shelter. And Abimelech himself was killed disgracefully by at woman who cast a piece of millistone upon his head to break his skull. Therefore, it is written: “Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in slaying his seventy brethren: and all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads…”-Judges 9:56,57.
There is a story of a young woman who came into a marriage because of the benevolence of her senior mate who wanted half-brothers or half sisters for her children. After the junior mate had two male children, she became very diabolical. By means of devilish concoctions she succeeded to send her senior mate out of the marriage, and her two children with her. The young wife pretending to be good urged her husband to bring the two children to the home because they were suffering but her motive was evil. Eventually, the husband succumbed to her desire and brought his two children from the divorced woman to the house and had them enrolled in a school.
The evil woman then went to her witch-doctor to procure a concoction that could kill without a remedy. On a fateful day, she prepared food for the children separately. She put the poison in the food of the children of the divorced woman and kept it on top of the table, her children’s food she placed under the table and warned them not to eat their brother’s food on the table. Incidentally, there was a dog in the house that ate up the food of her children. As God would have it, a female relation of the divorced woman saw the children at school and gave them money to buy food during recreation period; and so they did not go to the house to eat.
However, the children of the diabolical woman went home only to find that their food had been eaten by the dog. But they were so hungry that the only solution was to eat the food of their brothers who did not come home during the recreation period. As soon as they ate the food they fell to the ground in agonising pains and neighbours rushed there to attend to them to no avail. Their mother was quickly invited but she assured that they could not be her children, and when she got there, alas! they were her children. She rushed to the witch-doctor to seek for a remedy but she was told she bargained for the concoction without remedy. By the time she got home her two children were stone-dead. Indeed, whatsoever a man sows, he reaps. Her wicked plot to eliminate the children of her mate backfired and she was the loser for it.
The lesson we should learn from this instance is that it does not profit to plan evil for anyone. That God is angry with the wicked every day is an indisputable fact. If the wicked will not repent and turn away from his or her wickedness God will certainly take vengeance. Said the Psalmist: “Behold, he (the wicked) travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch. which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.” Ps. 7:14-16.
The divorced woman in her innocence remained in peace and God kept her children in safety. And if the wicked woman had known that she would lose her children in the exploit she would not have plotted the evil against her mate’s children.
On the other hand, if the woman had in good conscience helped the children in every good way and brought them up righteously, the children would have treated her like a mother, and her reward from God. would have been great. Jesus Christ said: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”-(Luke 6:38) It pays to do good.
A wicked person who gets away without being detected or punished cannot escape the punishment or vengeance of God. Even if he dies, God will bring him back at the resurrection to be punished. God says: “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” (Isa. 3:10,11). And Jesus Christ said: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (judgement).”-John 5:28,29.
While the living will be judged and punished by God through Jesus Christ for their evil deeds in this age at the forthcoming Great Tribulation, the dead will be commensurately rewarded according to their works at the resurrection. The picture of this is clearly given at Revelation 20:12,13, to wit.: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and another book was opened which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works.”
Eliphaz the Temanite told Job: “They that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.” (Job 4:8) St. Paul expounding more on his statement under reference, added: “For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Gal. 6:8) To sow to the flesh is to engage in the works of the flesh which were clearly outlined by St. Paul as including “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal. 5:19-21) Moreover, any support given to false prophets or teachers or to promote unrighteousness is sowing to the flesh. The consequence is anguish and death – having no portion in God’s Kingdom.
On the other hand, to sow to the Spirit means to do God’s will or to spend our strength, time, substance and, in fact, everything at our disposal, in fostering the cause of truth and the righteousness of God. For such ones abundant blessings are laid up and most importantly, eternal life will be their reward. It is on this ground the apostle exhorted the Christians: “And let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”-Gal. 6.9.10.
We must also bear in mind that a good harvest is usually proportional to what is sown. A person who manages to sow half a bag of corn for a hectre of land, should not expect to reap as much as one who finishes a whole bag of corn, if the harvests are equally good. Certainly, the one who sows a whole bag will reap more. This St. Paul also confirmed when he said: “He, that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”-2 Cor. 9:6.
Let us make good use of the opportunity God has given us to know the truth to sow bountifully as to reap bountifully from God through Jesus Christ our Lord.