We’ve been talking a lot about habits. We’ve probably said a time or two that habits shape your life.
You may have thought to yourself, “Where does God tell us that in the Bible?”
Galatians 6
“…God doesn’t use the word habits. He uses the metaphor of seeds.”1
“In biblical times, people lived in an agricultural society.”1
“People back then would understand the concept of planting seeds and harvesting crops…”1
“Their lives and economy were based largely by on farming.”1
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:7-9).
Let’s establish some definitions:1
So the passage starts, “Do not be deceived.” 1
“The idea is: don’t be led astray. Don’t be fooled, or stupid.” 1
“It continues, ‘God cannot be mocked.’ The Greek word translated mocked means to snub or thumb your nose at someone. You can do that to someone, but not God. Don’t be deceived, God cannot be mocked. You might fool a lot of people, but youre not going to fool God.”1
“‘A man reaps what he sows’ That’s what we need to understand and not be stupid about.”1
What does that mean?1
Sowing seeds to the flesh vs the spirit1
“There’s a law at work. Not a law like ‘You must do this!’ More like how gravity is a law of nature. It’s how the world works. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to agree with it.”1
“Gravity work for you, and on you the same way it works with everyone.”1
“God tells us there is a law of sowing and reaping.”1
“True in agriculture. True in life.”1
“If you plant good habits, you’ll get good outcomes. If you plant bad habits, don’t be deceived and expect good outcomes.”1
“If you don’t like what you’re reaping, change what you’re sowing. If you don’t like the harvest, change the seed.”1
“Here’s the assignment we just covered. Use this pattern for as many areas of life as you need to address.”1
God, I have sown [BLANK] and have reaped [BLANK] because of my habit of [BLANK].
To change this outcome, I need to start or stop my habit of [BLANK], so help me to plant the seeds of [BLANK] so l can reap [BLANK].
“If you don’t like what you’re reaping, change what you’re sowing. If you don’t like the harvest, change the seed.”1
“You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature.”1
But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.-Galatians 6:7-8 NLT
[1] Groeschel, C. (2023). The Power to Change: Mastering the Habits That Matter Most. Zondervan.
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Hello and welcome to The Overflow Podcast. My name
is Craig Booker. The title of this
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episode is You Reap What You Sow. A lot of
the material for this week’s episode was
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inspired by Craig Groechel’s book The Power to
Change Mastering the Habits That Matter Most.
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Note: I will talk a lot about mental health but
please note this is not a substitute for therapy
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or mental health care. I am not a counselor or
a physician if you need help with mental health
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challenges, please find a qualified mental health
professional. In this episode, we will be talking
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about You Reap What You Sow. So we’ve been talking
a lot about habits we’ve probably said it a time
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or two that our habits shape your life, and you may
have thought to yourself, where does God tell us in
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the Bible. Where does God tell us this? And the real
quick answer: the short answer is Galatians 6. But
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I want to dive into this in Galatians 6. God talks
about habits, but he doesn’t necessarily just come
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out and say habits so it says God doesn’t use
the word habits he uses the metaphor of seeds in
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in biblical times people lived in Agricultural
Society people back then would understand the
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concept of planting seeds and harvesting crops and
their lives and their economy were largely based
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on farming here in Galatians 6, chapter 6, verse 7
through 9. It says do not be deceived God cannot
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be mocked, a man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows
to please their flesh from the flesh will reap
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destruction. Whoever sows to please the spirit
from the spirit will reap eternal life. Let us
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not become weary in doing good for at the proper
time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
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There’s our basis for where God talks about you
know sowing seeds you could translate to be that
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to be habits. So let’s establish some definitions.
to sow means to plant or to put seed in the ground
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to reap means to gather the fruit the result
of the seed planet so this passage that we
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read starts out do not be deceived the idea here
is don’t be led astray don’t be fooled or stupid
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and it continues God cannot be mocked. The Greek
word translated mocked means to snub or thumb your
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nose at someone. You can do that to someone, but
not God. Don’t be deceived God cannot be mocked.
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You might fool a lot of people, but you’re not
going to fool God. That man reaps what he sows
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that’s what we need to understand and not
be stupid about and that. That’s Craig
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Groeschel’s words. That’s a quote from him. It says
what does that mean you will harvest what you
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plant? So, if you plant seeds of unhealthy
habits you’re gonna reap the consequences of
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those unhealthy habits. You know, if you’re reading
the Bible on a regular basis, you’re gonna reap
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the benefits of that habit. So your outcomes will
be determined by your inputs is how they summarize
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this. And the results of your life will be based
on the decisions you make, the habits you stake,
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and the habits you break. And so we’ve talked about
in past episodes or past weeks. We’ve talked about
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starting new habits to become the person we feel
called to become. Each person is called to become
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someone it’s the who they’re called to become.
And you know that takes some process to figure
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that out and figure out the who you’re called to
become but these habits are what we do to try to
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take steps towards the person where we feel called
to be sowing seeds to the flesh versus the spirit
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I want to discuss this and it says there’s a law
at work not a law like you must do this more like
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how gravity is a law of nature it’s how the world
works you don’t have to like it you don’t have
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to agree with it it says gravity uh work for
you and on the same way it works with everyone
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God tells us there is a lot of sowing and reaping
it’s true in agriculture and it’s in true in
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life if you plant good habits you will get good
outcomes if you plant bad habits don’t be deceived
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and expect good outcomes so if you’re trying to be
healthy one of the things that I’m trying to do is
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eat right so that I can lose weight and that will
lead to me getting better sleep I know that’s kind
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of a odd goal when it comes to eating right but
my goal with eating right is to lower my anxiety
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level by getting great sleep and so if I’m trying
to sow healthy habits of eating right if I go and
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eat a box of donuts and then tomorrow I go and
maybe splurge on another dessert should I expect
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that I’m going to continue to lose weight if I
keep that up I I think it’d be foolish of me to
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you know continue to go beyond uh what I you know
what is reasonable to eat in my diet and expect
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good results so that’s just my personal example
so if you don’t like what you’re reaping change
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what you’re sowing if you don’t like the Harvest
change the seed so each week we have an exercise
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that’s typically listed in Craig groeschel’s book
in this exercise it says here’s the assignment we
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just covered use this pattern for as many areas
of your life as you need to address so he gives
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us kind of two statements and they’re more like
the fill in the blank type statements God I have
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sown blank and have reaped blank because of
my habit of blank okay so that’s the first
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one then the second one it says to change this
outcome I need to start or stop my habit of blank
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so help me to plant the seeds of blank so I can
reap blank so obviously you kind of have to fill
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these in to make sense of it and let’s see if I
can do it on the Fly and it make any kind of sense
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here so if for my habits my two habits that I’m
working on are getting quality sleep and to take
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that a little bit further I’m trying to eat right
so I can lose weight and get better sleep in the
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end so I need to start my habit of eating right so
help me to plant the seeds of and I don’t want to
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go in this blank but maybe it’s you know making
reasonable choices in my meals so I can reap the
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results of losing weight and getting better sleep
obviously my wording and example is not very great
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here but hopefully it helps you get a better idea
of what’s going on in this exercise it’s going to
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help a whole lot if you personalize this exercise
for yourself maybe you’re trying to stop a habit
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um and you can fill in the blanks according
to the Habit that you’re wanting to stop
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and we talked a lot about to become the
person we feel called to become there are
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habits we’re going to have to start and there
are habits that we’re going to have to stop
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um so you know we’ve gone through and I tried to
identify some of those habits uh over the weeks
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and so you know if if you’re looking to do that
feel free to look through past uh episodes of the
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podcast and the notes to help you walk through
that we do have a principle for this section and
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it says if you don’t like what you’re reaping
change what you’re sowing if you don’t like the
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Harvest change the seed the second one is you
will always Harvest what you plant those who
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live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will
harvest Decay and death from that sinful nature
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then we have a verse Galatians 6 7-8 in
the New Living Translation it says but
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those who live to please the spirit will
harvest everlasting life from the spirit
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that’s all for this episode thank you for
watching if you like the video give us a
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