Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)
If you do a search online for “mocked,
Biblical definition,” you’ll get some interesting reading, but the definition that
caught my attention was “to engage in verbal abuse.” This brings comedy to
mind. Have you paid attention to what is considered funny? Nine times out of
ten, or maybe ninety-nine times out of one hundred, it involves saying things
that put someone down or otherwise portray that person in a way that leads
others to think less or badly of them. Whether it’s “Let me show you what a
failure my dog is at catching balls” or “let me show you that this idiot woman
can’t walk ten feet without half-killing herself,” or “let me tell you what my
worthless husband did this week…” it’s all designed to make the speaker look good
at the expense of the subject. It brings to mind the saying that when a toxic
person can no longer control you, he/she seeks to control how others see you
(and it’s not for the better.)
We’ve been told that decisions and behaviors
have consequences. When we read today’s passage, we may be tempted to sneer at God
who can’t take a joke and who attacks those who dare not treat Him as – um –
God. But that’s not necessarily what’s being said. If you choose to sow the
whirlwind, or destruction, or negativity, are likely to perceive things in
terms of whirlwinds, destruction, and negativity. Some people, for example,
hold it against God that He would send anyone to Hell. But, since God is what makes
Heaven Heaven, Heaven would be Hell to anyone who rejects God. Dallas Willard
suggested that Hell is the best God can do for some people – granting them what
they say they desire.
And this is the crux of the matter. People
look at this as though God is making the decision. You plant seeds that you
collected from a green Bell Pepper the year before, and they grow into Giant
Hogweeds.[1] It’s
all God’s fault. What the passage says is that if you plant Giant Hogweeds or Poison
Ivy, or Belladonna, you should expect to find them in your garden, and if you don’t know enough about
plants to recognize the ones that will do you harm, you probably shouldn’t be planting seeds
without someone along to guide you. If you go ahead and plant something
dangerous, it’s not dangerous because God decided to make it dangerous
miraculously just to get you.
[1] Giant Hogweeds look something like
Queen Anne’s Lace, but they can reach 15 feet tall, and the flowers are several
times larger than the lace. The sap is toxic to humans and causes
photosensitivity – to the extent that after touching the hogweed, a person’s
skin can blister – badly – simply by being exposed to sunlight.
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