Rock Bottom

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 (ESV)

I think back to my life before I knew Christ. What started off as having a little fun turned into a full blown addiction to drugs. However in-between those two events there was about a four year period. It would take this amount of time before the corruption would be apparent in my life. At some point it would become unavoidable, I was trapped, I needed a way out. I had reaped from my flesh the corruption that this verse says was due to come. Although up until that point I was determined to indulge in my flesh, whatever I wanted I would do and generally I would do it to the best of my ability. This could consist of a number of things, things that at first seemed to happen without consequence, allowing me to continue on. My point here is that I didn’t starve my flesh of anything, I was sold out to doing just that, little did I know I would soon be reaping the corruption of my flesh. So on the flip side we see that one who sows to the Spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. So now picking up from where I got saved, why would I not expect the process of reaping and sowing to go something like it did in the flesh. I did not wind up homeless and addicted in one day so why did I expect that one encounter with Christ and I would be fruitful in my walk eternally. No you see this process would look a little something like an inverted mountain. You picture yourself at one end of the scale, slowly slipping down until you hit bottom. This is where you have an encounter with Christ, and then we are right back where we slipped down from…No, we know that’s not how it works. But now we start our upward journey, with one goal in mind. We set our gaze on our Lord Jesus Christ and don’t look back, we press on. As the writer of Hebrews says in 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witness, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that has been set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Don’t take your hand off of the plow, don’t look back. If obstacles come your way do not them throw you off track, but rather detour your way back onto the upward journey. The journey of eternal life.

Application:
By next Friday I will memorize Hebrews 12:1-2.