WHAT ARE YOU SOWING? ARE YOU A DUCK OR AN EAGLE?

God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction;
the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest
if we do not give up…let us do good to all people, especially to those
who belong to the family of believers.
GALATIANS 6:7-10

How do you feel about serving others?
Do you look forward to helping others, or do you expect them to help you?
When it comes to serving others, no one can make you serve them well, because great service is a choice.
When you awake each morning, your choices can impact your entire day.
If you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself.

We should avoid complaining and differentiate ourselves from others by being good servants.
Every day we have the opportunity to choose between being a duck or an eagle.
Ducks quack and complain, but eagles soar above the crowd.
Which seems more exciting to you?
Our attitudes can determine whether we have a bad day, a good day, or a great day.

Would you prefer to go through the day looking for everything that is wrong,
or discovering how you can raise the spirits of others?
God’s Word says that if we do not get tired of doing good, then we will reap a harvest!
It tells us to focus on doing good to all people and to not overlook other believers.
If another believer is actively serving the Lord, what can you do to brighten their day
and encourage them to continue with their faithful service?

Focusing on doing good is a good practice even in the workplace.
When we have a good attitude, it allows us to take pride in doing a good job, no matter what job we may have.

As an example:
There was a cab driver who made sure his taxi was clean and polished to a bright shine.
He was always smartly dressed in a white shirt and black tie and wore freshly pressed slacks.
Whenever he picked up a passenger, He would hand them a card that said,
‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk
I’d like you to read my mission statement.’
His Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest,
safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.
As he slid behind the wheel, He would say,
‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’
He also had a cooler with soft drinks available for the passengers.
If the passenger wanted to read, he had The Wall Street Journal,
Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today available.
For the passenger’s listening pleasure, he would handed them laminated card that read,
‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.’

How did his ‘sowing choice’ affect his work days?
Not only did he look forward to making others smile and have a pleasant day,
but he doubled his income the first year and quadrupled it the following year.
You see, he didn’t always provide this type of service to his customers.
He used to be just like all the other cabbies (‘ducks’).
His cab was dirty, he was unfriendly and his passengers were unhappy.

What a difference in him and his passengers when he decided to make a different choice.
He changed from being a ‘duck’ to becoming an ‘eagle’.
He differentiated himself from others and reaped the rewards for his efforts.
When word got out about the service he offered, customers started requesting him over the other cabbies.

Whatever we sow determines the harvest we will reap.
If a farmer sows cotton, then he can’t expect to harvest corn.
If we sow to please our sinful nature, then we cannot expect eternal life.
If we sow to please the Spirit, then we should not expect to reap destruction.
When the scripture says, “God cannot be mocked”, we are assured that His Word is true.
We WILL reap what we sow…we can depend on it because God said that is what will happen.

Are you more concerned with pleasing yourself than encouraging others?
When you choose to encourage others, you will find that you also please yourself.
Why?  Because you will feel better about yourself when you are helping others.

How about your choices – what are you sowing?
Are you sowing to reap a good harvest or a bad one?
Review the harvests of each one and if your harvest is not what you want,
then make a choice to choose differently what you will sow.
Lastly, are you sowing to please yourself, or to please the Spirit?
If you are not sowing to please the Spirit then pray,
“Lord Jesus, help me to be more like You and not like all the other ‘ducks’.
Give me a new attitude as I awaken each day.  Help me to be less selfish
and look forrward to encouraging and lifting the spirits of others.  Give me
a desire to have an attitude that will point others to You and not myself.”