Yes; they that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, as
we have all proved in ourselves. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in
the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” The Spirit
has power to free us from the sins of the flesh, and from all their
consequences. Christ “loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word,
that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish.” Eph. 5:25-27. “By His stripes we are healed.” The memory of
sin,—not of individual sins,—will be perpetuated in eternity only by the
scars in the hands and feet and side of Christ, which are the seal of
our perfect redemption.
[Sidenote: Be Not Weary.]
How naturally the exhortation follows, “Let us not be weary in
well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” It is so
easy for us to get tired doing good, that is, when we are not looking to
Jesus. We like to have little intermissions, because constant doing good
seems too much of a strain. But that is only when we have not fully
learned the joy of the Lord, which is the strength that enables us to
keep from getting weary. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and
not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.” Isa. 40:31.
But that which is especially referred to here, as the context shows, is
not simply the resisting of temptation in our own flesh, but the helping
of others. Here we need to learn a lesson from Christ, who “shall not
fail nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth.” Though
nine out of ten whom He relieved never showed the least sign of
appreciation, it made no difference with Him. He came to do good, and
not to be appreciated. Therefore, “in the morning sow thy seed, and in
the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall
prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.”
Eccl. 11:6. We can not tell how much we shall reap, nor from which of
the seed that we sow. Some may fall by the wayside, and be snatched away
before it has time to take root, and other may fall on stony ground,
where it will wither, and still other may fall among thorns, and be
choked; but one thing is certain, and that is that we shall reap. We do
not know whether the morning sowing or the evening sowing will prosper,
or whether both shall alike be good; but there is no possibility that
both can be bad. One or the other alone may prosper, or else both may be
good. Isn’t that encouragement enough for us not to be weary in
well-doing? The ground may seem poor, and the season may not be
favorable, so that the prospect for a crop may be most unpromising, and
we may be tempted to think that all our labor is wasted. Not so; “in due
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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