Published by admin on 12 Mar 2000 at 09:44 pm
CAUSE AND EFFECT
It is said for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. That’s a law of physics. If you put two croquet balls together, put your foot on one of them and hit the ball you have your foot on with a mallet, the other one will go flying away with the equal force with which it was hit on the other side of the ball. Cause and effect? You smack it a good one, it will surely move. The same thing can be said of our spiritual life.
Everything in the physical realm has an equal in the spiritual realm. Only, you can’t see the spiritual realm. But just because you can’t see into the spirit, doesn’t mean things aren’t happening. Now, moving on, let’s look at something Jesus said. Remember, Jesus talked about spiritual things a lot, and He used physical things people could relate to, so they could understand the spiritual principals behind them. Giving is something Jesus spoke a lot about. He said in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
Here is a prime example of cause and effect. Give, and it shall be given. First is the cause, you must give. Giving makes something happen in the spiritual realm that spills over into the physical realm. Give, and it shall be given unto you. You see, giving causes an effect. Not sometimes, but all the time. Why? Because Jesus said the word “shall”. He didn’t say maybe, or possibly, or once in a while. No, He made it so simple a child could understand. He simply said “shall”. In other words, no doubt about it. It is done, period. Case closed. Got that??
So many people have needs. You may be one of them. Oh, you are? Good, I’m talking to the right person then! Ok, listen up. I’m going to tell you how to have that need met. But first, let’s have a gardening lesson. You do know something about gardening, don’t you? Well, just in case you don’t, I’ll start with the basics. First, you must have a need. Let’s say…..you need carrots! Lots of ladies like carrots. My wife just loves them. I think she spells them Karats, they like diamonds with Karats, and rings with Karats. Karats are nice to have, the more the better, as in “18K”. Carrots are good too, and they are had the same way as Karats. First, you must have a need. Then you must sow a seed. Still with me?
Ok. One of the first laws God set up is this. In Genesis 1:12, “And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” Every seed produces after it’s own kind. In other words, if you want carrots in your garden, you don’t just go to the store and buy just any old kind of seeds, they have to be carrot seeds. If you buy celery seeds, you’re going to be disappointed. Oh, for the first day after the seed sprouts out of the ground, it will look just like you’re going to get your carrots. But in a couple more days you will see it isn’t what you really wanted. You see, carrot seeds make carrots, celery seeds make celery. God said so, and that’s the way it’s going to be, like it or not. So your best bet is to plant what you need and just be done with it. That way, you aren’t planting corn and waiting for it to become carrots. It’s not going to happen, Jack.
What does this have to do with getting your needs met? Are you reading this just so you can learn some stupid thing about planting carrots? No. It’s so you can have your needs met and have something left over to buy your loved one KARATS with.
You know, those things ladies like? As in diamond rings? Certainly a man doesn’t get to buy his wife diamonds if he can’t pay his other bills, right? Now do I have your attention? Thought so. You see, this is also about giving. Ask your wife about giving, believe me, she knows a thing or two about giving. They like to receive sometimes, too. May I suggest karats?
Getting back to the “give, and it shall be given unto you” part, this is one of the laws that God set up that just can’t be broken. God said if you give, it shall be given unto you. Here’s where it gets interesting. Remember where we were reading about seeds reproducing after their own kind back there? This is also a law that God made that can’t be broken. Another is this, Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” and 2 Corinthians 9:6, “But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”
If you plant one tomato seed, you will get one tomato plant that will yield several tomatoes, each having hundreds of seeds inside to replant later. But if you plant hundreds of seeds, you will have hundreds of plants and more tomatoes than you know what to do with. You’ll be giving them to the milk man, the mail man, all your neighbors, and you still will have more left over than you will ever need. But you won’t get any celery, because tomato seeds won’t produce celery.
Now here’s another thing about gardening that’s also true about giving. You can eat your seed and never have a crop, or you can plant it and get a harvest. You can take what God told you to give, and eat it, and miss out on your blessing. Or you can plant it and it will produce your harvest. Many want to “eat their seed” instead of planting it, because eating it now satisfies the immediate need. But the wise person will plant the seed so they will have a much bigger harvest later.
Now, let’s wrap it up and get to the point. You’ve had a short lesson on gardening. Every seed produces after it’s own kind. Every seed produces more than itself. It produces a plant that makes more seeds in the fruit. You’re after the fruit, right? Ok then, what kind of fruit do you need? Most of you will say “more money”. Short of being the Government and being able to print your own money, you will have to rely on God’s way of doing things. Need money? Sow money. How? Give. Remember, “Give, and it shall be given you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.”
How do I know it will happen? Because Jesus said so. I haven’t caught Him lying and neither has anyone else. Where do you give? Where is it needed? Church? Homeless people? Ministries like mine? There are lots of options. Give where God tells you to. This is cause and effect. When you sow, something happens. You reap.
How much do you sow? Sow according to what you need. Need a little? Sow a little. Need a lot? Sow a lot. Hey, I didn’t make all this stuff up, God said it. I didn’t make the promises, so I don’t have to back them up. God does! And believe me, He doesn’t take His word lightly. If He said it, He will do it! And He did, so He will. Remember, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. If you sow hate, you reap hate. If you sow love, you reap love. If you sow encouragement, you reap encouragement. If you sow mercy, you reap mercy. If you sow money, you reap money. Each seed produces after it’s own kind. Now all you have to do is to decide what you want to reap, then sow bountifully!