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Not so much the act of indulging in irregular passions, as the providing for their indulgence. The daughter who engages in a ceaseless round of gaieties, who hastens from one scene of amusement to another, whose attention is wholly directed to the frivolities of dissipation, and from whose course of life nothing can be more diverse than preparation for eternity; it is not so much she who can be said to "sow to the flesh," as her father, who provides all the means of enjoyment in which she indulges, although perhaps he has himself no taste for such delights, although perhaps with brow wrinkled by care he has no desires beyond his counting-house; he whose whole attention is absorbed in the pursuit of gain, and as utterly regardless of a preparation for eternity as his daughter — he it is who "sows to the flesh." Both are hastening to the same end, but by different ways; she "sows the whirlwind," while he "reaps the storm."

I. THE BREVITY OF ALL THE OBJECTS OF THIS WORLD'S AMBITION. Suppose a man who has been engaged in the pursuit of wealth to attain the summit of his ambition. He may, indeed, enjoy a brief hour of delight, but that hour will soon be past. The wealth he has acquired may not be taken from him; but he will, sooner or later, be taken from it. The splendid mansion he has reared may stand in castellated pride for many generations, and his domain may smile for ages in undiminished beauty; but in less, perhaps, than half a generation, death will shoot his unbidden way into the inner apartment, and without despoiling the lord of his possessions, will despoil the possessions of their lord! It is not his way to tear the parchments and rights of investiture from the hand of the proprietor, but he paralyzes and unlocks the hand, and they fall like useless and forgotten things away from him. Thus death smiles in ghastly contempt on all human aggrandisement; he meddles not with the things that are occupied, but lays hold of the occupier; he does not seize on the wealth, but lays his arrest on the owner! he forces away his body to the grave, where it crumbles into dust; and in turning the soul out of its warm and well-favoured tenement, he turns it adrift on the cheerless waste of a desolate and neglected eternity.

II. THE UNPROVIDED STATE, WITH RESPECT TO ETERNITY, IN WHICH ALL ARE LIVING WHO SOW TO THE FLESH. This world is between heaven and hell; but the existence of such a middle region, where the creature may enjoy himself amid the Creator's gifts, and care not for the Giver, cannot long be tolerated. According to the natural course of things, it will come to an end. He who chooses this world for his portion may have his "good things" here, but leaves his eternity a blank. His desires being earthly, his reward is perishable.

(T. Chalmers, D. D.)

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KJV: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

WEB: Don't be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.