You Eat What You Plant

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Gentlemen, every day is a battle. A battle for your faith, your family, and your purpose. The men who stand strong don't prepare when the battle arrives. They prepare before it begins. Welcome to the Men's Morning Devotion. Let's get into God's word. It's time to man up.

Steve Alessi 0:26

Good morning, gentlemen. It's Steve Alesi and happy Thursday. It's our time to step up for another man up moment, and today, as we look at another wisdom principle, we're going to talk about how you and I will eat what we plant. Proverbs chapter 1, 29 through 31. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. Every choice has a harvest. It's painful, but it's true. Solomon paints a sobering picture. He doesn't say these people lacked intelligence. He says they rejected knowledge. They didn't accidentally drift away from God, but instead chose not to fear him, refusing his advice, even ignoring his correction. And eventually they ate the fruit of those decisions. That's how life works. See, God has built the principle of sowing and reaping into every area of our life. If you sow integrity, you're going to earn trust. If you sow faithfulness into your marriage, you're going to reap intimacy. If you sow time into your children, you're going to reap influence in their lives. If you sow discipline into your finances, you'll reap financial stability. But the opposite is also true. If we ignore our wife long enough, we're going to harvest distance, neglect our walk with God, and we'll harvest spiritual dryness. Cut corners at work and eventually our reputation will suffer. Keep feeding hidden sin, and one day it'll demand a public payment. The frightening part is that the harvest always comes later than the seed. That's why compromise feels so harmless in the beginning. It's a man just telling himself, you know, it's just one lie, or it's just one more drink, just one little click, or just one angry outburst. But the seeds never stay seeds, they become fruit. And sooner or later, every man eats from the tree that he's planting. The encouraging news is this you're planting something today, right now, with every conversation, with every decision and every habit and every response. You're creating tomorrow's harvest. God's wisdom isn't meant to restrict your life. Get this, guys. It's meant to protect your future. So a wise man, he doesn't wait until the harvest to change. He changes while he still is planting. So here's your man up challenge. Today, identify one seed you're planting that you don't want to harvest five years from now. Give this one some thought. Maybe it's procrastination. Maybe it's anger or neglecting your health. Maybe it's just too much screen time. Or maybe it's even a habit. Something that's hidden that nobody else knows about. Whatever it is, don't make excuses right now. Pull the weed while it's still small. Then choose one good seed to plant today. Read God's word. That's a great seed to sow. Pray with your family. Encourage your wife or call the kids. Serve someone. Exercise. Apologize. Remember this the life you'll live tomorrow is being planted by the choices you make today. And your future isn't found by chance, it's grown by choice. So plant wisely and man up. Let's pray. Father, thank you for loving us enough to correct us before our choices become our harvest. Give us a heart that welcomes your wisdom instead of resisting it. Help us recognize the seeds that we're planting today and give us the courage to remove anything that dishonors you. Let our life produce fruit that blesses our family, our church, and everyone you've called us to lead. In Jesus' name, amen.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

All right, gentlemen, you've heard God's word. Now go live it. Lead well, stand strong, honor God in everything you do. Share this devotional with another brother. Remember, every day is another opportunity to man up.