To sow winds, to reap tempests

The disturbances that took place in different countries during the football matches of the 1994 World Cup were incredible.

In Mexico, three people died and more than 200 were injured during one of the "celebrations" for the qualification of the national team.

The same problems happened in Holland when they reached the quarter-finals, and in Italy when they reached the final (including some people who suffered heart attacks).

It is sad, but on too many occasions sport is just an excuse to "sow" storms and hatred.

We often go through life as if everything belonged to us. We go around doing what we want, not letting anyone object or raise their voice to us. We often do things that do harm, or hurt other people and we do not see much of a problem in it.

"He will soon forget," we say. We hurt people and try to get away with our sin. God teaches us a spiritual law in the Bible that is always fulfilled: what we sow, is what we are going to reap - sooner or later.

If we sow hatred, envy, jealousy, bad words, slander, etc. we are going to collect the same in our lives - probably to a larger extent.

If we hate others, we too will receive hatred. If we envy others, we will only obtain bitterness in return. If we speak ill of others, others will gossip about us. It is not possible to sow evil and collect good.

We cannot expect others to treat us well, if we have humiliated them. We cannot demand justice from others, if we have laughed at them.

Everything we sow will become what we reap. Jesus taught a spiritual lesson that we often forget: what there is inside us is what really matters.

What do we have within us? If we have hatred, we will receive hatred; if we have love, we will receive love. It does not mean that things are always going to go well, but that, at least, we know that we have done our part correctly.

If we give love, then we can be sure that God will have his say in the results. We cannot expect anything else.

We cannot sow winds and reap peace; if we sow winds, we will reap tempests, and they will always be harder and stronger than we thought.