Intro: Our passage today, is a continuation from our reading from yesterday. If you missed that devotional, please take time to read Galatians 5:16-25 before proceeding. When believers walk in the Spirit [guided] and remain filled with the Spirit [abiding in fellowship or oneness] the evidence of that relationship with God is revealed in the fruit of the Spirit that is produced in our individual lives. Fruit is the revelation of the believer’s faithfulness to the gospel promise. Believers are called to live in spiritual and moral excellence based on the Word of God; in this way we take a relevant biblical truth and make it a personal truth. Please don’t use our culture as a marker to govern your life; use the Word of God because it is the Spirit’s work to exalt the Word in our lives.
Sowing and reaping are true spiritual principles; but, sowing and reaping are also revealed in the laws of nature. A sweet friend of mine sent me a picture of her flourishing garden, yesterday, and it is clear that what she sowed into the soil was growing and will in time bring a harvest of good things. The same principle is true in the spiritual realm. When we sow to the Spirit, in time we will reap or harvest spiritual fruit. When we sow to our flesh, in time we will reap a harvest from our fallen flesh. Quite frankly, this law reflects the judgment of God who commands us [for our well-being] to sow to the Spirit. We should be quick to resist sowing to our fallen flesh, because we know evil hides in it. When evil is left unchecked—when we do not allow the Spirit to liberate us from sin—our condition to rebel against God just worsens. Our flesh gets stronger, because we have rejected the loving work of the Spirit within us.
This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost—a Greek term meaning The Feast of Weeks. Pentecost is significant in both the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament. In the Old Testament, seven weeks after Passover, the Feast of Weeks celebrated the end of the wheat reaping season when people brought the first fruits of that harvest to God. This feast foreshadows the coming of Messiah and His ministry. Every feast is symbolic of an important aspect of God’s plan of redemption through Jesus. In the New Testament, Christ’s last words of instruction to his disciples before he ascended to heaven was for them to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49). Jesus sowed into the Spirit, so we could all reap a harvest from the Fruit of the Spirit. As Christ foretold, the Holy Spirit descended as tongues of fire at Pentecost to fill the disciples with power from heaven (Acts 2:1-3). The Spirit is producing a harvest in us now according to the New Covenant. “In the last days God says, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. “In those days, ‘I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike—and they will prophesy” or release messages from God’s Word (Acts 12:17-18).
I hope we all realize the life Jesus died to bring us is the highest quality and most abundant life we can experience while we live in this fallen world (John 10:10). Don’t be dominated by your emotions or attachments to what God calls sinful desires. Live in the New Covenant promise and bear the Fruit of the Spirit. If God calls you out of sin, it is because he has something so much better for you. Trust him, because God is Good! Have a blessed weekend…
Galatians 6:7-10 NLT
7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the work of the Holy Spirit to help us produce righteous fruit. You are the First fruits offering, Jesus, and we thank you for sowing yourself into the lives of every believer. We are the first fruits of the Spirit and our lives are an offering to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.