Do Not Be Deceived...

All my life I'd heard the verse in Galatians 6:7 that reads, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap" (ESV). And when I heard this verse, I always believed that it had close to the same meaning as the Buddhist idea of karma, which basically tells us that "What goes around comes around". I believed this to be true until I saw a quote one day on Pintrest that made me think otherwise. The quote read: "Karma [means that] we get what we deserve. Christianity [means that] Jesus got what we deserved." And, because that quote sounded so much more like Biblical truth, I began to ask God what exactly he meant by that verse in Galatians 6.

So here's some of the revelation that I've gotten from the Lord so far. In the fifth chapter of Galatians, Paul tells the Christian church in Galatia that, because Jesus set us free, we must walk in the freedom that is provided us through the Holy Spirit. We do this by walking in the Spirit, instead of walking by the flesh. He makes it a point even outline what the works of the flesh are, so as to avoid any confusion. They are "sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these" (v. 19 & 20, ESV). So if these are the works of the flesh and we are to avoid those, there must be works of the Spirit that we should wanna cling to, right?

Thankfully, Paul outlines what those are too. He calls them the fruit of the Spirit in verses 22 & 23. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..." (ESV).

So what on earth does all this have to do with what Paul says in Galatians 6:7???
Well, in verse 8 of Galatians chapter 6, Paul explains what he means by verse 7, and how all of chapter 5 plays into it all as well. Verse 8 reads, "For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life" (ESV). Praise Jesus, right?! So, verse 7 doesn't mean that whatever we do to others will eventually be done unto us, or that our actions reap the merited consequences of them; what it means, though, is that we must be careful what we are feeding ourselves and pay attention to whether we are sowing into the flesh or the Spirit. If we feed, or sow into, the flesh (i.e., the works of the flesh, mentioned in Gal. 5:19-20), we will reap corruption. That sounds befitting, right? But if we sow into the Spirit by partaking in the Word of God, seeking God daily, and delighting in the things of the Lord, we will reap eternal life. God promised it, so it's true.
Hope this blesses y'all!

Fearless

I wanna be fearless.
I wanna look at what's before me--the mess that my life has become, the hopeless and broken girl collapsed on my bed, the hurtful words of my mom that pierce my soul--and have no fear.
I want to hear doubtful whispers that you aren't even real, that if you were real you wouldn't care.... I want to hear every single lie and be fearless.

I wanna trust you without fear. I wanna be face to face with the devil and stand with courage because you are real. Fearless.

God, make me fearless.