sown will be lost.

A young man serves a long apprenticeship to some trade or
profession; but he expects by and by to reap the fruit of all those
years of patient industry. Ask an engineer why he works so hard for
five, six, or seven years in the endeavor to learn his profession.
He replies that he is looking forward to the reaping time, when his
fortune and reputation will be made. The lawyer studies long and
hard; but he, too, anticipates the time when his clients will be
numerous, and he will be repaid for his toil. A great many medical
students have a hard time trying to support themselves while they
are at college. As soon as they get their diploma and become doctors
they expect that the reaping time is coming; that is what they have
been working for.

Some harvests ripen almost immediately, but as a rule we find it
true in the natural world that _there is delay_ before the seed
comes to maturity. It is growing all the time, however; first the
little green shoot breaking through the soil, then the blade, then
the ear, then the full corn in the ear. The farmer is not
disappointed because all his crops do not spring up in a night like
mushrooms. He looks forward with patience, knowing that the reaping
time will come in due season.

So with the harvest of our actions. Few men, if any, would indulge
in sin unless they expected pleasure out of it. A drunkard does not
drink for the mere sake of drinking, but in the hope of present
enjoyment. A thief does not steal for the mere sake of stealing, but
for the sake of gain. And similarly with the good man. He does not
make sacrifices merely for the sake of sacrifice, but because
thereby he hopes and expects to do good, and help others. All these
things are means to ends: there is always expectation of a harvest.

The Certainty of the Reaping.

The text bids us look forward to the certainty of the reaping:
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

We know what it is to have a failure of the crops, but in the
spiritual world no such failure is possible. Wet soil may rot the
seed, or frost may nip the early buds, or the weather may prove too
wet or too dry to bring the crops to maturity, but none of these
things occur to prevent the harvest of one's actions. The Bible
tells us that God will render to every man according to his deeds.
"To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and
honor and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that