The Law of Reaping and Sowing

The law of cause and effect is a basic law of life. The Bible calls it the Law of Sowing and Reaping.

You reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. – Galatians 6:7-8

When God tells us that we will reap what we sow, He is not punishing us; He’s telling us how things really are.

If you smoke cigarettes, you most likely will develop a smoker’s hack, and you may even get lung cancer. If you overspend, you most likely will get calls from creditors, and you may even go hungry because you have no money for food. On the other hand, if you eat right and exercise regularly, you may suffer from fewer colds and bouts with the flu. If you budget wisely, you will have money for the bill collectors and for the grocery store.

Sometimes, however, people don’t reap what they sow, because someone else steps in and reaps the consequences for them.

If every time you overspent, your mother sent you money to cover check overdrafts or high credit-card balances, you wouldn’t reap the consequences of your spend-thrift ways. Your mother would be protecting you from the natural consequences: the hounding of creditors or going hungry.

As the mother in the above example demonstrates, the Law of Sowing and Reaping can be interrupted. And it is often people who have no boundaries who do the interrupting. Just as we can interfere with the law of gravity by catching a glass tumbling off the table, people can interfere with the Law of Cause and Effect by stepping in and rescuing irresponsible people. Rescuing a person from the natural consequences of his behavior enables him to continue in irresponsible behavior. The Law of Sowing and Reaping has not been repealed. It is still operating. But the doer is not suffering the consequences; someone else is.

Today we call a person who continually rescues another person a codependent. In effect, codependent, boundaryless people “cosign the note” of life for the irresponsible person. Then they end up paying the bills – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – and the spendthrift continues out of control with no consequences. He continues to be loved, pampered, and treated nicely.

Establishing boundaries helps codependent people stop interrupting the Law of Sowing and Reaping in their loved one’s life. Boundaries force the person who is doing the sowing to also do the reaping.

It doesn’t help just to confront the irresponsible person. A client will often say to me, “But I do confront Jack. I have tried many times to let him know what I think about his behavior and that he needs to change.” In reality, my client is only nagging Jack. Jack will not feel the need to change because his behavior is not causing him any pain. Confronting an irresponsible person is not painful to him; only consequences are.

If Jack is wise, confrontation might change his behavior. But people caught in destructive patterns are usually not wise. They need to suffer consequences before they change their behavior. The Bible tells us it is worthless to confront foolish people:

Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. – Proverbs 9:8

Codependent people bring insults and pain onto themselves when they confront irresponsible people. In reality, they just need to stop interrupting the law of sowing and reaping in someone’s life.

Excerpted with permission from Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and John Townsend, copyright Zondervan, 2002.

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Your Turn

The Bible offers great wisdom for dealing with irresponsible people because we all need that wisdom! How have you dealt with relationships in which you could easily slide into codependency? Do you have strong boundaries with others that honor God and the natural laws He created? Do you struggle with the Law of Reaping and Sowing? Come join the conversation on our blog! We would love to hear from you about relating to others in a godly and healthy fashion! ~ Devotionals Daily