Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.This verse struck me today as I thought about all the whining and moaning I've done about Galatians lately, about struggling with our freedom in Christ, and yet how obedience to Him feels very much like the law we are supposed to have just been freed from.
First of all, I liked what our Bible study commentary had to say, just one line: "Grace is forgiving but it is demanding in its own way. Freedom born of grace brings the responsibility to love and serve." And another, "'Let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) means to keep in line, as in military formation or dancing. [Paul] urges the Galatians to march in rank and file, depending on the Spirit's help to submit to God's will and conform to His character.
So I shouldn't be surprised. Freedom in Christ, Christian liberty, those terms we hear bandied about so much in Christian circles, do not mean freedom in the sense we like to think of freedom. And actually, I guess if I'm thinking of freedom in those terms, that is definitely my own editorializing, because the Bible doesn't speak of that kind of freedom. It speaks of freedom being slavery to Christ rather than slavery to the law.
But more importantly, the verse struck me because God used it to give me a little nudge about how dishonest I've been in all my whining and complaining. He reminded me that I might fool people and I may even deceive myself, but not Him; He is not mocked.
Obedience to Him may feel like the law I am now free of, and I can complain about that until the cows come home, but the truth is that it feels like that when I haven't been spending regular time in the Word; I am not sowing to the Spirit, but to my flesh. I can fool others, but I can't fool Him.
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