Sowing to the flesh and sowing to the spirit, devoid of any outside demand or authority over us, driving us in one direction or the other, is solely our choice. God will not force our choice and Satan cannot force it, because he doesn't have the authority or the power to do so.
Sowing to the flesh results in corruption; But how much do we really know about what it means to sow to the spirit? We know that the end result is eternal life, but how do we get there? What is the sowing we need to be choosing to do?
My grandfather, my Mom’s Dad, as some of you know, was a master tailor, farmer, fabricator of almost anything that could be made from cloth and leather. He was also in the side a woodworker, electrician, and necessary jack of all trades. My grandmother (My Mom’s Mom) was a master seamstress, florist, cook, launderess, gardener, knitter, crocheter, rug maker, curtain maker, and all things that ladies needed to make themselves and their homes beautiful. Their life philosophy was an idle mind is the devil's workshop, and idle hands get up to no good.
Sowing was a time-demanding process, even with two professional sowing machines, and large spools of thread, large swaths of cloth and various instruments of measuring, marking, holding, cutting, and forming on, and all kinds of fabrics about the shop from which to fashion it. Anything that had to be sown was made one stitch at a time, but the end product was always refined and exquisitely tailored.
Now we know that specific reference is made to an agricultural process of sowing and reaping, seed time and harvest, but the relationship of the two words should not be quickly ignored. The Bible suggests that sowing to the spirit is much like that. It is time consuming and attention to detail is required, if the end product is to be worthy of the one for whom it is made.
We the believers are called the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Body of Christ, earthen vessels into which a treasure has been deposited. And we are being built up into a spiritual house, transformed into the image of Christ. We are also the plantings of the Lord, branches grafted into the Vine Jesus Christ. But if we don't stay connected, and abide in the vine we will not bear fruit and thus we will not sow to our spirit.
By bearing much fruit we sow the seeds of eternal life in our minds and hearts. Ultimately, out of the abundance of resources in our hearts, life or death, our mouths will speak, and when we do so, we will speak life or death, because both are in the power of our tongues. What is spoken is governed only by what is stored of seed in our hearts in abundance. If we abide in Christ the Vine, that is, if we center our days on pursuits of His pleasure, His wisdom, His Word, and His will we will be in constant communion with Him and the cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches entering are made of no effect. They cannot move us. The devil can't make us do anything or woo us away for God while we abide in Him.
In another place the Apostle admonishes us this way.
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.1 Peter 1:2-4
"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins".1 Peter 1: 5-9
By the means of God's glory and virtue we are given great and precious promises in order that we can be partakers of His divine nature.
Wow! Let's stop right there and meditate a moment.
Do we actually believe that God wants us to be partakers of His divine, all-glorious, grand majestic, all-powerful, all-wise and incomprehensibly loving, compassionate, and gracious nature? Does He really intend for us to be partakers of His uncompromising justice, Holiness, and Righteousness? Are we to experience as human beings what it means for God to say, and mean that there is only One God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of all things?
Is that what we truly believe in our hearts? Is that what is in our hearts in abundance? is that what come out when we live and move and have our being? Is that what people hear and see in our words and our deeds? Is the Holy Spirt in us the catalyst for our love of God first, last, and foremost, more than ourselves, our loved ones, our families, and the world?
Who or what holds final sway and authority in our hearts? Is it God, the Father, Jesus, the Son, The Word made flesh, The Holy Spirit, these three in One? Only by them are we empowered to sow to the Spirit to reap eternal life.
The tailor and the seamstress when they sow a garment they actually sow to the form of a man or a woman. We sow to our spirits in the form of Christ in us, by the hand of the Master Tailor, God the Father, and Jesus or Savior and Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
We begin by faith in God, and stitch by stitch we add to our faith,
virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity, (Love).
Finally comes the finished product and rich reward.
"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:8-11
But we who belong to Christ, having sown to our Spirit will reap, now and forever, eternal life.