Where Does Your Strength Come from?
““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. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (NIV) Galatians 6:7-9
This section in Galatians 6 encourages us to "sow to please the Spirit" instead of the flesh so that we will reap a harvest of eternal life. The thing that stands out to me is the idea that we should not become weary in doing good. This has the potential to be a hard teaching because it's easy for us to get tired of doing good for others if we are trying to rely on our own strength. Thinking about this reminds me of the words of Jesus from John 15:4-5 where He says: "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
Sometimes, we get proud and may be tempted to think we can do things on our own and that our achievements for God are because of our own strength and our own righteousness. Jesus’ words in John 15 remind us that we shouldn’t rely on our own strength and abilities in doing good, but the strength that comes from our connection to the Vine, who is the Lord Himself. As we strive to “sow to please the Spirit” in our jobs, with our money and in every aspect of our lives that we dedicate in service to God, I pray we can remember where our strength to persevere should come from. If we rely on our strength, we will eventually fail but if we rely on the strength that God supplies, we will be able to say the same words Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13: "I can do all this through him who gives me strength."