Here Are My Thoughts

READ: Proverbs 14

“The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.” (Proverbs 14:14)

You reap what you sow. That is probably one of the greatest lessons we can learn as human beings. Jesus taught this, and since then, it’s something each generation has tried to impart on the next. It’s the idea that our collective experience in this life doesn’t rise above the choices that we make or the places we choose to go. 

Here in Proverbs 14, Solomon speaks multiple times about this idea of reaping what you sow. In vs. 4, he says that “abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.” Vs. 17 states that “a man of evil devices is hated.” In short, how we choose to live, and how we choose to live towards other people, often determines how good our lives can be.

And this idea is expressed exactly in vs. 14, in which Solomon declares that whether your actions are good or bad, you are filled with “the fruit of your ways.” If you are a “backslider in heart” (a term derived from three Hebrew words, which mean, in order, to defect or betray, defiance and rebellion, and turning to old ways), you will reap what you sow. And if you are a good person, who seeks to make wise choices and treat others well, you will reap what you sow.

That’s really what this Proverb is all about. And when I look at the people around me, I can see this clearly. I don’t know a single person who treats others poorly who is happy with their lives. Everyone I know who is mean is personally miserable. I don’t know anyone who has fallen back into old, sinful ways who is totally content with themselves. On the other hand, I don’t know anyone who is honestly doing their best to follow God with their whole hearts who is not completely joyful, regardless of the circumstances of their lives. I don’t know anyone who seeks what is good for others who feels that life has no meaning or purpose.

It’s almost as if life is designed to work this way….we reap what we sow.

-Brett