Investing in What is Good

GETTING STARTED

As our son was growing up, my husband and I talked to him often about consequential thinking. The choices you make now will affect things later on. If you take time to study, you will do better on your assignments and tests. If you spend time doing drills and practicing, you’ll be better prepared and play more effectively in the game. The idea of consequential thinking is that if you invest in preparation, you will reap a greater reward. Something will always follow your actions.

  • How does this principle relate to our spiritual lives?

READ THE WORD: GALATIANS 6:6-10 (ESV)

6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.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. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

DIGGING DEEPER

  1. The sharing of “all good things” in verse 6 is primarily about financial support. But what other good things can the one who is taught share with his or her teacher?
  2. Explain in your own words Paul’s spiritual “law of returns” in verses 7 and 8. Did you include the certainty of the consequences?
  3. A continual sowing to the flesh is a rejection of the gospel. Instead, what comes from sowing to the Spirit? In what ways does your life either affirm or discount these truths?
  4. Why do you think Paul took time to encourage the Galatians to not grow weary? What does this imply about doing good? How does this relate to sowing to the Spirit?
  5. You can’t fix all of the world’s problems, but what specific opportunities do you have to do good? How can you be intentional about investing in the well-being of those God brings into your life?

RESPOND TO GOD

“Do not be deceived” is a theme that undergirds all of Galatians: don’t be deceived by false teachers who preach another gospel. Specifically in these verses, “do not be deceived” because our attitude and actions, and the motivations behind them, matter and have real consequences. Sowing to the flesh is centering ourselves on human wisdom, self-effort, and worldly values. Living like this is functionally rejecting the gospel, and it leads to a distorted truth—one that can’t save us. Sowing to the Spirit is a joyful investment of obedience to God. It can take some time to see the “results” of our faithfulness, but don’t be deceived and lose heart. Sticking to it leads to goodness for others, and deep and satisfying change for ourselves.

  • Pray for wisdom to obey—to sow to the Spirit.
  • Pray for the endurance to not grow weary as you do good.