“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:6-7)
Consequences. Man has God been teaching me about these lately! Every choice we make has consequences. I think about Samson with Delilah. David with Bathsheba. Lot’s wife as she disobeyed the command of God to not look back. Cain after he killed his brother Abel. And Judas after he betrayed Christ. But there are also just as many good examples of choice-based consequence. Job, who held to his righteousness and was restored double what was taken from him. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who, although thrown into the fiery furnace for disobeying the command of the king, were delivered from their shackles. Joseph, sold into slavery, thrown into prison on trumped up charges, held to his righteousness and honor – to be later promoted to second in command over all of Egypt. Peter, who also betrayed Christ, returned in complete submission to the One He betrayed, confessed, repented, and became the cornerstone of the Christian faith and movement.
What about you? What choices have you made in the past – good or bad – from which you are reaping the reward now. Paul wrote to the church at Rome (in our text today) that to be mindful of the flesh and its desires is (or leads to) death (sickness, disease, and untimely physical death), while to be mindful of righteousness and godliness is (or leads to) a wholesome, healthy existence in our bodies and a spirit of peace (a spirit of fullness, vitality, healthfulness, and blessing). How is your life today? Are you reaping the harvest of wild seeds sown to the wind (as my dad used to encourage me to do), or are you reaping the harvest of a life of purpose and plan?
It is interesting to me to study agriculture. Not that I have time to sit and study facts and figures – after all, I’m not a farmer as my grandfather was. But consider these facts. One apple seed – a single seed – haphardly tossed aside that takes root and grows a tree yields (on average) 900-1,200 apples per year, each apple containing between 5-10 seeds per apple. So, using the smaller numbers, 1 apple yields 900 apples X 5 seeds = 4,500 seeds! Of course, there are MANY factors that go into that which we won’t get into, but that is the lowest estimated yield. Considering the high end, 1 apple yielding 1,200 apples, each containing 10 seeds, would equal 12,000 seeds! Another example is corn. One heritage corn seed (live – not bybrid) yields approximately 365-400 seeds per stalk. These are impressive numbers, to be sure, but how do they translate or relate to our lives?
Everything to which we give life by speaking it, breathing it, believing it grows. That is the law of nature God placed into effect at creation. Scientists recently found seeds that had been buried and frozen in the Arctic tundra for millenia – leftovers from before the Ice Age. When they planted a few of those seeds, they germinated and created the plants from which they came! Those seeds contained the DNA of the plant and they contained life-giving energy – even after thousands of years lying dormant and frozen! That is amazing! But that is the power of the laws of God, my friend.
Our words are seeds every bit as powerful as those seeds that were discovered. As long as they remain merely thoughts they contain some control over our actions, but the minute we speak them out we give them life. And they WILL germinate and grow. Using the example of the apple seeds and the corn seeds from above, we can easily see how quickly our words can and do influence our lives – both today and in the future. Solomon is credited with writing these oft-quoted words: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” In other words, we can and WILL create our lives by the very words we speak. Ouch! Furthermore, he didn’t write that we MAY eat the fruit of our words but that we SHALL – one of the strongest words used in scripture.
Over the course of the past couple of months I have discovered the one-to-one conversion of my actions upon my life. I am now walking through the reversal and regeneration of God in my body because of those actions. But just think – how many words have I spoken over the same course of time? How about you? How many “bad” seeds have you planted just in the past couple of days? Those have SO MUCH MORE POWER than anything you could do. The whole chapter 18 of the Book of Proverbs talks about our words and our lips. How wise, then, the prayer of David found in Psalm 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” In other words, God may my heart by right with You, first, then let my righteous mouth guide the words I speak. Again, ouch!
My challenge to you, my dear friend, is to begin monitoring those words that you speak daily. Even in the course of common conversation with friends and family, co-workers and those with whom you come into contact. We speak thousands of words each day. Are they positive, uplifting words or are they negative, destructive words? Do we speak words that line up with what we tell everybody we believe, or do they puncture holes in our faith and allow the power of God to leak out and become ineffective in our lives? This is, perhaps, the hardest challenge I have put out to both you and myself. But it is VITAL for us to by careful and purposeful in our speech. For remember, each word is a seed that will grow. And we all eat the harvest of our seeds. Maybe not today, but when the season of growth is finished. Plant wisely, my friend.
Be blessed.
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