(For those who missed my posts for Thursday and Friday last week, I apologize.
I had family in town and forgot to post the devotions. Hopefully I am back on track now.)
“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 9:10, ESV)
When I worked with my grandmother on her garden in the country, I took a bit of ownership in that garden. I felt like it was mine. Of course, it was not. It was grandmom’s garden. She owned the land. Moreover, she was the one who gave me the seed to plant in the garden. She provided and owned everything. She also had the knowledge and wisdom necessary to have a fruitful garden. I only had to follow her instructions, which was to take the seed she provided and sow it into the soil. Yes, there was some watering, fertilizing, and weeding also, but the harvest came because of her provision.
Paul has been writing about the issue of generous giving. He gave several principles. Here is another. Just as it is God who supplies the material needs that we have, He also amply supplies everything the believer needs for spiritual sowing. The result of this sowing produces a harvest of righteousness.
The principle is even greater than we can fully imagine. It indicates that not only will He provide the seed for sowing, He will multiply the servant’s seed. Thus, God will supply so that the believer’s harvest of righteousness will also be multiplied. In the context of generosity, the magnanimity of God towards those with a generous heart goes beyond comprehension, multiplying one’s harvest of righteousness. The blessings are eternal. Jesus indicated that this type of sowing would manifest itself in eternity (Matt 6:20).
Yet there would also be blessing in this life. Ones which would go beyond the mere material to every aspect of this life. Paul wrote, “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way” (2 Corinthians 9:11, ESV). This explanation not only lends itself to enrichment in finances but in every aspect of life. Things like emotion, relationships, ministry opportunities, and a host of things would also be included.
I knew a man who had the gift of giving. He never flaunted his wealth. He always drove in a used car that was at least two years old, mostly Buicks. He helped countless people in ministry who were struggling. He helped start-up churches. God provided him with abundance and he gave it away. Moreover, he had a certain inexplainable joy about him. Of course, we know the source of his joy. It was the joy of the Lord at work in his life as he was generous.
This blessing works for the church also. When I accepted the Lord’s call to serve in a church in New Hampshire, the church was in a desperate financial state. It had been years since they balanced the budget. When I arrived, they indicated that only have enough funds to guarantee me six-months in compensation. One of the things I discovered was that the church had cut their missions giving to cover their expenses. It was about four or five -percent of annual revenue. After looking at the Scriptures and realizing that the Old Testament Levites would give a tithe of the tithe they received (Num 18:26; Neh 10:38), I asked the church to increase their missions giving by faith. It took a couple years to get to ten-percent of the budget but every year we increased the budgeted giving, the Lord blessed over and above. He blessed abundantly. In less than two years, we were experiencing a budget surplus and doing much needed upgrades to our facility and ministry.
God supplies and multiplies seed for sowing for the generous, both individuals and churches.
Renewing the Heart 