You Reap What You Sow

Today I read Galatians 6, Paul's closing to the Galatians. In this chapter Paul is trying to impress upon them that their fate is ultimately in their hands. He tells them that whatsoever they sow, that is what they will reap. It never fails to amaze me that in the Christian world they can miss such clear statements from the Apostles of old. I have met dozens of Christians in my day that think that it doesn't matter what they do because God is good and will redeem him/her anyway.

This is not the only place in the scriptures where we are told that our ultimate reward is dependent upon our actions. But so many people seem content to just believe the falsehood that it does not matter what they do, they are able to be whatever type of person they want to be and God will save them no matter what. Such people do not understand the scriptures at all. They do not understand that even if such a thing were true, they would not want it to be true. Such people should really read Alma's account to his son Helaman where he tells him that when he thought of standing in front of God he wished to cease to exist, that the mountains could fall upon him and bury him for His sight. For some reason people don't make the logical jump from earthly father to Heavenly Father. We do not like to face our earthly father when we have done something wrong, and that's only something temporal. How will we feel when we have to stand in front of our Heavenly Father, the source of all goodness in the universe, and account for our actions? I promise you that you won't want to if you have even the slightest bit of sin upon your conscience.

This truly is the time to prepare to meet God. And how do we make those preparations? By making a conscious choice to overcome evil and to do what is right. When we purposefully choose to not participate in that which is evil and to instead choose the right, we will slowly become a little more righteous. No one is able to just wake up one day and say they will never sin again. It's not possible because we are fallible and because God has given us weaknesses so that we will have to rely upon Him for help. But as we make conscious choices to overcome these trials and to not sin, then we are able to move just a little bit closer to where we want to be and Heavenly Father will change our nature to help make it a little easier the next time.

We have been given the gift of agency in this life. We fought a war over it in heaven. We are able to choose our own path in this life and by so doing, choose where we want to end up in eternity. We will reap what we sow, just as Paul told us. This is because what we sow determines who we become. Even an evil person can turn it around and choose the right and turn their world around. We determine who we will become. Our choices determine who we are. That is the ultimate gift our Heavenly Father has given us. And it was important enough that 1/3 of all of His children were cast out because they did not agree with Him that it was important and tried to take it away from all of us. Make sure that you are using your agency appropriately and that you are making the choices you want to make. It will affect you the rest of your existence! Until tomorrow.