It is a law in the universe that when you put something out into the world you receive the same back. People currently like to call it Karma. The old biblical term for it is: you reap what you sow. The phrase my grandfather preferred was: what goes around comes around. And the old english word for it is comeuppance. Whatever you want to call it, the truth remains; it’s a universal law that you get back what you put in.
Sowing is a farming term for when a farmer walks a row in his field and spreads seeds. Most of us don’t live in an agricultural culture anymore but the concept is still easy to understand, so let’s stay with it. If we look at it a little closer there are a couple other lessons we can glean from this concept.
If you plant bad seeds you will harvest a bad crop
This is the principle people usually mean when they talk about karma. Kind of like a cosmic payback. When you do something bad you better look out because karma is…well, you know the rest.
But the converse is also true…
If you plant good seeds you will harvest good fruit
You get back what you put in. So just like when you sow evil, sooner or later it will come back for you. It is the same with good things like love and joy. When you walk the rows of influence in your life and sow those things you can expect a good return.
You will harvest more than you plant
This is one of the reasons you want to be careful how you treat those around you. Just like a seed doesn’t grow up and become only one more seed but instead each seed contains the potential for many more of the same type of seed.
You plant now and harvest later
There is an old Chinese proverb that goes like this: the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.
When you plant something you have to wait until it matures to get the fruit. That is just part of the life principle. So, if you haven’t been planting good seeds in your life, that’s ok, you can always start right now.
The truth is that with the way the culture is headed right now we could all use a some good stuff being planted. If not for us to harvest, then at least so our children can reap the benefits.
*Credit where credit is due: some ideas for this post came from thoughts I originally heard from Adrian Rodgers and Mark Batterson.
