Читать книгу Modern Lutheran Theology - Alexandra Glynn - Страница 11

From Genesis 47:23 we read: “Then Joseph said unto the people, ‘Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh; lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.’” The idea of sowing seed is in the Bible often. Usually it is used to picture the sowing of the Word of God into the hearts of men. For we sow for six years, or, throughout the work week, until the everlasting Sabbath harvest (Exod 23:10, Lev 25:3–4). And we do not sow “mingled seed,” but only the pure unmixed Word of God (Lev 19:19, Deut 22:9). And often we sow the seed weeping (Ps 126:5).

What we sow, we will reap (Gal 6:7). As it says: “Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same” (Job 4:8). Only God knows what will happen to that which we sow (Eccl 11:6). And we need first to break up the fallow ground, the hard hearts. The Word of God does this work in hearts (Hos 10:12). And we know that “he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Cor 9:6).

We want to sow to the Spirit, and not to the flesh. “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal 6:8). This sowing to the flesh question is one of the most important to keep in mind when we think of what the Bible is telling us about choices we make. For in the Bible we do not have specific answers to questions about celebrating Halloween, or going to certain entertainment places, or looking at certain things on our phones, or wearing certain items, or taking up certain hobbies. But we do have this broad warning: if we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption. So we can ask, in any given situation, when I do this, or when I take this up, am I sowing to the flesh? And then we have our answer as to whether or not we want to keep doing what we are doing or thinking what we are thinking.

We do not want to feed the flesh. We want to starve it. Especially in difficult situations with our neighbors, when someone is in dire straits. For some demons are at work so powerfully in our neighbor, such as in the case of addictions, that Jesus says, fast (starve the flesh) and pray. This is our only hope with such people in such situations. Jesus said that “this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matt 17:21). So let us do as Daniel, and pray, and not sow to the flesh:

And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments (Dan 9:4–5).