#81 Sowing in Tears
Welcome to the 81st issue of Pulpit to Pew Crew, a newsletter from me, Brad McClure, sharing thoughts on life centered around Bible principles with hopes of encouraging you in your daily walk with God.
Hello Friends,
This week I'm testing out the new program I'm using for this email newsletter/devotional in 2023.
If you're surprised to see me in your inbox, the previous version probably sent my emails to your spam mail in the past.
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I have one more "announcement" before I move on to this week's thought. Each of these newsletters/devotionals will now be on the website, along with blog posts I write throughout the year.
My blog posts may be serious, like the one I'm in the process of writing, "Ideas to improve your prayer life in 2023," or about something funny that happened to me.
Honestly, I'm exploring the art of writing.
Everything centers around the Bible because that's what my life has centered around, but I like to write in different styles. Thank you for sticking with me on this journey.
If you spend time in church, you'll learn about the laws of "sowing and reaping."
- You reap what you sow. Sow corn–get corn.
- You reap more than you sow. Sowing a seed of corn gets several ears of corn.
- You reap later than you sow. After sowing corn, you must wait to harvest.
I always enjoy teaching these laws based on these verses in Galatians.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Galatians 6:7-9)
I'm not going to say farming today is easy, but technology has made farming much more convenient.
In Bible times, it was blood, sweat, and tears working in the hot sun for hours plowing and planting seeds you wouldn't reap for some time.
That's where the verse highlighted above hit me last week.
This verse talks about sowing IN TEARS. Why?
Because sometimes what we want to see takes hard work and decisions.
This week I want you to ask yourself this question, "What would bring me joy in 2023?"
Now for the challenging part.
Are you willing to sow in tears to reap that joy?
- It will take planning.
- It will take discipline.
- It will get difficult.
But if you sow through the tears, you will reap in joy!
I hate to end this negatively, but remember the other side of this principle. If you choose to reap sinfully or selfishly in 2023, guess what?
- You will reap the consequences of what you sow. (Often in tears)
- You will reap more than you sow.
- You will reap later than you sow. The consequences don't always come immediately.
You can't control everything that will happen to you in 2023, but two things I know to be true.
- Much of what happens will come from decisions you either make or ignore.
- Your Heavenly Father is in complete control. He can forgive our foolishness and work things together for good, and He can reward our discipline and decisions and again–work things together for good.
The choice is ours.
This week on the podcast
🎙 Adult Bible Study – A Solid Foundation: This week, we finished up our mini-series on selected parables of Jesus by looking at the conclusion of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.
🎙 A Principle that will bring you "profit" in 2023
Have a wonderful Christmas!
P.S. Again, welcome back to those of you who haven't been getting these but subscribed a long time ago. The spam mail monster is an evil beast! 👹