One of my favorite parts of the movie To Kill A Mockingbird is the scene where Atticus Finch (the lawyer) is standing on the steps of the jail to protect Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of a crime. A mob arrives of more than a dozen men, most of them with guns. They want to lynch Tom. Scout, Atticus’ daughter sees Mr. Cunningham in the mob and innocently strikes up a conversation with him, reminding him that her father did legal work for him in exchange for some food from his farm. Atticus did the work for free, letting Cunningham repay as he could.

When Cunningham thought back over the kindness that Atticus had shown him, he decided not to cause him trouble and told his fellow mob members to leave and go home. They did so. I’ve seen things like this happen in life many times.

Galatians 6:7 says we reap what we sow. Even if we don’t see goodness come back to us immediately, we can be sure that it will return. In the movie we don’t see Tom being repaid for the kindness he showed Mayella, but in reality we will be rewarded at some point, whether here or the next life.