The Holy Spirit’s Teaching on Wise Sowing
David W Palmer
(Luke 6:31–32 NLT) “Do to others as you would like them to do to you. {32} If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them!”
The Holy Spirit expands on the principle of Jesus’s Golden Rule of doing unto others as we would have them do to us. He confirms and explains to us that God’s pledged way of interacting with us is through his law of multiplication. (Note: multiplication itself implies a zero outcome if one of the numbers multiplied is zero. In other words, if you sow nothing—no matter how much God wants to multiply what you sow—it will always come to nothing.)
In Hebrews, the Holy Spirit says the following:
(Hebrews 6:13–15 DKJV) For when God made his promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, {14} Saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” {15} And in this way, having patiently endured, he (Abraham) obtained the promise.
Here, God both promised and “swore” an oath that he would honour the principle of blessing us—giving us his gracious power to speak his word and imitate his actions; and that he would multiply whatever seeds—words and actions—we sow. (This obviously applies to good and bad seeds.) Why did God both promise and swear this as an oath? He wanted us to be completely sure—to be absolutely beyond any doubt, argument, or hesitation—that he will do it … that sowing and reaping is foundational in the way he interacts with us.
Reading on in Hebrews, we see:
(Hebrews 6:16–18 NLT) Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. {17} God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. {18} So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. …
God did this so you and I can be fully assured of his intention and his eternally established commitment; reaping what you sow is completely certain; it will never go away, cease, or fail:
(Hebrews 6:14 WEY) saying, “Assuredly I will bless you and bless you, I will increase you and increase you.”
(Galatians 6:7 BLB) Do not be misled: God is not mocked. For whatever a man might sow, that also he will reap.
Thankfully, God’s blessing in Christ empowers us to sow both wise seeds and creative words by his grace—ensuring a blessed future.
Sowing Love, the Path that Leads to Life
Jesus first mentioned the principle of sowing and reaping when he was explaining how to enter, and stay on, the path that leads to life:
(Matthew 7:12–14 DKJV) “Therefore, in everything, whatever you want others to do to you, you do the same to them; for this is the objective of the law and the prophets. {13} Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are entering through it. {14} How narrow is the gate and constricted is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it (the narrow gate).”
Jesus put the statement, “Enter through the narrow gate,” immediately after saying: “Whatever you want others to do to you, you do the same to them.” So in this context, a wise and loving application of the law of sowing and reaping is what Jesus had in mind when he coined the phrase, “the narrow gate.”
(Matthew 7:14 APE) “How narrow is the gate and strict the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it!
We note that Jesus also said that the “way that leads to life” is “constricted”—con-strict-ed or “strict” (Aramaic). In English, the prefix “con” means, “with,” or, “thoroughly.” This implies that to have an unhindered stream of God’s life flowing in and through you in full strength, continually; you will need to stay strictly on the path of sowing pure love; and that you can only s
