A Harvest of Righteousness

Saturday, March 30, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”

James 3:1–18

Every living thing that God made, both plants and animals, has the capacity to reproduce itself. But as great an impact as that has, from the beginning that ability was limited. Nothing creates something that is different from itself. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so” (Genesis 1:11). If we want a harvest of corn, we don’t plant tomato seeds. If we want oranges, we don’t plant apples. If we want giraffes, we don’t start with lions.

The same principle is true in the spiritual world. There are many people who want to experience the benefits and blessings of the good fruit of righteousness in their lives. But they are continually reaping a very different kind of harvest which they do not enjoy. The seeds we sow determine the harvest we reap. There are no exceptions to God’s divine law. It will remain in effect until the end of the world. “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).

The reality of harvest places a great responsibility on us to carefully consider what we are planting day after day. The future is not determined by our wishes but by our seeds. Those who desire righteousness and peace tomorrow must sow those things today. Wisdom reminds us that the future of every harvest is determined by our present actions.

Today's Growth Principle: 

Knowing that you will reap tomorrow what you are sowing today, take care what seeds you plant.