Consequences part 5
I want to (hopefully) end on kind of high note. Consequences are not only negative. They are natural. What you get out of it is what you put into it. Look at Hosea 10:12, "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness on you." We sow by the choices we make. If we sow in righteousness we will reap in mercy. But there's something else here that we need to focus on real quick. HE will come and rain righteousness on us. We sow in righteousness... but it is the righteous rain of the Lord that makes what we sow... grow. Let me say it another way, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6). You don't have to make things happen. You just have to give what you've got. Love is giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are without worrying about how people will react to it. Even though it feels like the more you love, the less you are loved. Because--watch this--if you're sowing love so that you can reap love... if you're loving someone so that you can get something from them... that's not love. Love is NEVER about getting. I just said it: Love IS giving. Giving because you have something WORTH giving. Giving because you want someone to have what you've got. And that, by the way, is how you "sow to yourself." You take care of yourself by taking care of others. You break up your fallow ground so that the seeds you plant (and the seeds others plant in you) can take root... and grow. And like I mentioned--its not your job to make things happen. Once a farmer has planted the seed, his part is done. He can't MAKE the seed grow. He uses wisdom, certainly, making the best conditions FOR the seed to grow. Planting at the right time. Watering the seed. But like Paul said, sometimes you plant and someone else waters. That's ok. We're all in this together. And no matter who does what... it's God that gives the increase. It's LOVE that makes things grow. I spent a whole Rant series talking about how important it is to nurture the good (the God) things in your life and starve the things you don't want in your life. This is kind of like that. We have to start counting the cost before we just barrel ahead and do whatever we want. We CAN do whatever we want... but that doesn't mean we SHOULD. Like my grandpa says, "You can do whatever you want, as long as you're willing to pay the consequences." Because the consequences are going to come. If you sow the wind you will reap the whirlwind. In a positive OR negative connotation. The wind is the Holy Spirit. I hope we saw that yesterday. There's nothing better to sow than love. Because it brings such a huge increase. Because God not only BRINGS the increase, but God IS the increase. Love feeds on love and grows and grows and grows. A Holy Ghost wildfire that cannot be contained. The love inside too big and too good to STAY inside. And the consequences of THOSE actions--actions of love--are easy to live with.