It’s never been done, but folks keep trying. Many live as if they would have already pulled the wool over God’s eyes, but it turns out every time that instead of fooling God, they have only deceived themselves.

Thousands had already tried it by the time the Apostle Paul wrote around 50 A.D.: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoev­er a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 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” (Galatians 6:7, 8).

Harvesttime of each year bears out the first object lesson that Paul sites: You reap what you sow. No stalk of corn has ever produced oats, nor has the thorn apple yielded a peach. No cow ever gave birth to a donkey. God said in the beginning that every species would reproduce after his kind (Genesis 1:11, 12, 21, 24).

As surely as plants and animals produce “after their kind,” deeds and attitudes also yield a predictable harvest. Paul illustrates with human decay what wrong choice will yield: “He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption [decay].”

We reap corruption for sin both here and in eternity. Our bodies have their limits. Abuse them with alcohol drugs, promiscuity, and partying, and they will let you down.

We also reap what we sow socially. Many abuse the institutions God established for our happiness: marriage and the home. No won­der they reap hatred instead of love and heartaches instead of security.

God has offered us seeds of faith and repen­ tance by which we may reap eternal life. “Turn now from your life of sin” is the offer; “I will save you” (see Ezekiel 33:11). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). And if we spurn God’s offers of deliverance and strength, we will sow unbelief and rebellion instead. “[We] shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5). Learning life’s lessons of sowing and reaping convinces us that God will have the last word. If any fooling is done, it will be us fooling ourselves. It is vital to our happiness, social fulfillment, even survival, not to let that happen. To fail God’s lessons and to waste a lifetime thinking that somehow the rules will change is a tragedy for which many will suffer eternally.

So quit fooling yourself. God can’t be fooled.

-by Dallas Witmer