The Bible uses the task of sowing seed to help us understand spiritual matters. In Biblical times, a farmer might walk through his field with a bag of seeds by his side and he would reach into the bag, grab a handful of seed and broadcast the seed onto the ground. When the rain would come, the seeds would sprout and grow, and the plants would eventually produce the desired crop. Sowing seeds means planting something now that will grow and produce later. It is used to describe how our current actions, words, habits and thoughts produce a future harvest.
The apostle Paul gives us the following warning. Galatians 6:7-8 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” We are warned against deceiving ourselves. Do you convince yourself that your actions are good when they really are not? Do you tell yourself that you love God when your actions prove otherwise? Are you confident that you are spiritual when the truth is that you are carnal? When you deceive yourself that your thoughts and actions are righteous when they are not, you mock God. God knows your actions, your thoughts, and even the intents of your heart. Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” You cannot deceive God.
Consider a field in which you might plant rice or corn or wheat. What do you expect to reap from that field? From the beginning, God has caused each plant to produce after its kind (Genesis 2). You expect to get rice when you plant rice, and corn when you plant corn, and wheat when you plant wheat. In the same way, what you sow in life is what you will reap. if you sow to your fleshly desires, you will of the flesh reap corruption – that is, decay and eventual spiritual death. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” You have been washed, sanctified, and justified by God. Don’t be deceived that you can continue sowing to the flesh and expect to inherit the kingdom of God. If you plant the seeds now of satisfying your fleshly nature, you will reap corruption in the future.
Sowing is not a single act; it is a lifestyle of planting seeds. Sowing to the flesh means repeatedly choosing sinful desires and feeding habits that pull you away from God. Sowing to the flesh means investing time, energy, and thought into things that corrupt the soul. Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The harvest is corruption: decay and ruin. This includes broken relationships, loss of peace, diminished spiritual sensitivity, bondage to sin, and ultimately, spiritual death.
Instead of sowing to the flesh, sow to the Spirit because of the Spirit you will reap life everlasting. What does it mean to sow to the Spirit? It means to occupy yourself with spiritual matters and seeking to gain spiritual knowledge and spiritual maturity. Romans 8:5 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Sowing to the Spirit might include feeding your spiritual nature, choosing obedience to God, investing in spiritual disciplines, cultivating habits that align with God’s will and walking according to the Spirit. Galatians 5:16-17 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
As stated before, sowing is not a single act; it’s a lifestyle of planting seeds. Sowing to the Spirit might include studying and meditating on God’s word, spending time in prayer, serving God and seeing that His cause is increased, serving those around you, being a spiritual light to others, and denying yourself for the cause of Christ. Sowing to the Spirit yields the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-24 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
It is easy to see how others are sowing seed that will produce a future harvest. But what about your life? What kind of seed are you sowing. 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified.” Ask God in prayer to show you where you might be deceived about yourself and where you are sowing to the flesh instead of sowing to the Spirit. God sees and knows. I encourage you to sow to the Spirit so that of the Spirit you will reap everlasting life.