Mensa Otabil - What Are You Planting? (10/02/2025)
Question number six: What are you planting?
Galatians chapter 6, verse 7: "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."
This is an eternal principle; it's at the heart of all of life's principles, the timeless principle of sowing and reaping, or cause and effect, and all the processes that impact our lives. The quality of our life is encapsulated in this principle that you're going to reap what you sow. It's primarily an agricultural principle. We know it: when you want to reap mangoes, you sow mangoes; when you want to reap peppers, you sow peppers; when you want to reap tomatoes, you sow tomatoes. But this agricultural principle has a wider application to our actions and the impact they have on us.
So the passage says that we shouldn't be deceived: God is not mocked. You cannot mock God, and you cannot deceive God. This principle will work at all times. Sowing is a form of investing, and reaping is your gain; you gain from what you invest. The thing about life is that there are people who know what they want but are sowing what will not produce what they want.
For example, somebody wants to be happy but is sowing quarrels. If you're fighting with everybody, you're not going to be happy. If you want to be liked by people, you don't sow anger, because that is not going to bring you likability. If you want to be liked, then you have to invest in things that will make people like you back. If you want to be rich, you have to sow hard work; then your hard work will give you dividends. You don't sow laziness and carelessness and expect that things will work out for you.
In the next verse, Paul the Apostle tells us that we must not sow to the flesh, but we must sow to the Spirit. In other words, sow to things that are long-lasting, spiritual, eternal—things of value—not things that are temporary, short-term, and give you instant gratification but have no real consequences for our future.
So as you contemplate what you're doing with your life, ask yourself a very simple question: Am I doing the things that will get me the results I want in this relationship? Am I investing in this relationship what I want back? If it's a marriage, am I showing love so that I receive love back, or am I sowing suspicion so I get suspicion back? Because whatever you sow, that is what you're going to reap.
And so God helps us, and may God help each one of us to properly select the seeds we are sowing, so that when we sow those seeds, we will reap the fruits that we are expecting, which are beneficial to us and a blessing to us.
Let us pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, help me to invest in the things of the Spirit and not of the flesh. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen and Amen. So wisely sow to the eternal, sow to the spiritual, and reap long-term value. I'm Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.