INTERESTING THOUGHTS

By Bruce Nudd

   I have heard the truth that you reap what you sow a lot in the last several months. It is true that we reap what we sow whether it be good or bad. There is another truth that goes with it, that is, the wise man concentrates on what he is sowing, not on what he perceives another to be reaping. Man does not see as God sees and what one man perceives as the reaping of another may not be the same thing God sees. Job’s friends are an example of not seeing as God sees. Job’s friends saw Job as reaping what he had secretly sown. They persisted that Job confess his sin and get right with God (also remember Job’s personal condition as his friends talked with him. They seemed pretty cruel in how they handled the situation). They persisted so long that Job finally did sin. That was when God stepped in and straightened things out.

   What if the man (wise or not) perceives that what another is reaping is what the other has sown? Matthew 7:1 and Romans 2:1 tell us we are not to judge with condemnation (it is one thing to discern the sin, another to condemn it). Romans 2:1 goes so far as to say that we who judge another do the same things ourselves. This is in the context of talking about the abomination of homosexuality. How can a believer who judges a homosexual be doing the same thing as the homosexual? The homosexual is using his body in a way never intended by God, and we who judge him with condemnation are committing, what is in God’s eyes, the same sin. To people it looks different. To God it is the same sin. Romans 2:1 can be applied to abortion, the not keeping of the Ten Commandments, laziness, not loving one another or our neighbor, or whatever sin there is. It is true we reap what we sow, good or bad. The question is: “What are we sowing as God sees our sowing?”