THINK TOGETHER
Have you ever heard the phrase "You reap what you sow"? What does it mean?
READ TOGETHER
Have you ever planted tomatoes in your garden and gotten cucumbers instead? Have you ever gone to pick strawberries but the patches were full of oranges? Of course not. Why? Because you reap what you sow. If you sow tomato seeds you reap tomato plants. And if you sow strawberry seeds, you reap strawberry plants.
This same principle applies to our lives too. If we sow hate, we will reap hate from others. If we sow love, we will reap love from others. If we are a good friend, our friends will be good to us. If we obey mom and dad, we will get more privileges. This is called "The law of sowing and reaping."
Now it's important to remember that because we live in a sinful world the law of sowing and reaping doesn't always work. Sometimes you can be very friendly to someone and they are mean anyway. Sometimes you can try to be loving, but others are hateful back to you. Sometimes you can work really hard and still fail. But there is one place where what we sow will ALWAYS be reaped – with God. Paul talks about this sowing and reaping in Galatians 6. Listen to what he says:
Galatians 6:8. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Paul says that we can sow "flesh seeds" or "Spirit seeds." Do you remember what the flesh is? The flesh is that sinful and selfish part of you that still lives inside. If you plant seeds of selfishness and pride everywhere you go, your life will be corrupted and you will turn into a nasty person. But if you sow Spirit seeds – seeds like love, joy, and peace –then you will ALWAYS see the seeds turn into fruit. The fruit of love, joy, and peace. The fruit of Jesus inside of you.
Because of Jesus we have the seed of the Spirit inside of us giving us eternal life.
With Jesus we can sow spiritual seeds and reap the life of Jesus.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Cut open a piece of fruit together to reveal the seeds, or find a seed vegetable to look at. Talk about how the Spirit inside of us is a seed that bears fruit that produces more seeds for us to sow. Where can you plant the seed of Jesus' love today?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you live inside of me. Your life is a seed that is growing in me. Help me to sow the seed of your love wherever I go. Amen.
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