It’s not complicated … the things you plant will be the things you harvest in your life.

“The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them,

because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted

on loving them anyway.  He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines.

And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.” I Kings 11:2,3 NLT

There are times when the law of “Sowing and Reaping” (You will always harvest what you plant.” Galatians 6:7 NLT) really works for us. Like when we’re sowing good seed … paying attention to God’s instructions … obediently following the right path for our lives. We know that when we give to others something that cost us … when we’ve done the right thing even when it’s carried with it significant cost … when we’ve taken the high road – we know that God will bring about a wonderful harvest in our lives somewhere down the line.

But when we turn inward and live selfishly and largely at the expense of those around us we’ve been told that we aren’t going to like the outcome. The contrast of putting bad seed into the ground and investing in good seed is spelled out clearly in Galatians 6:8 NLT: “Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.”

Solomon knew he was to resist marrying foreign women who worshipped idols instead of his God. He had a grandfather named Saul who had sown seeds of pride and disobedience and been told by the prophet Samuel that ‘to obey is better than sacrifice’  (asking forgiveness after the train leaves the track … after the horses have all escaped from the open barn door.)

Solomon still made the decision to put bad seeds into the soil of his life. And would you believe it? His attraction to foreign wives did in fact turn his heart away from the Lord.

We usually feign bewilderment whenever the wrong crop pops up out of the ground of our lives. We look with horror at the weeds of unrighteousness living and lament “How in the world did this happen?”

But we know how it happened.

It was a choice we made, not necessarily knowing the specifics of the consequences – only that we wouldn’t like them.

This week when two choices present themselves and God’s Spirit puts a happy, smiley face beside one and there’s red “CAUTION” tape across the other one, make the right choice and anticipate with excitement a great harvest ahead.