But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
II Corinthians 9:6
One time, as I sat in prayer over our finances, the Lord told me “You reap sparingly because you have sown sparingly”. It wasn’t condemning, it was plain and simple truth. You reap what you sow, and we hadn’t been sowing. Over time we’d gradually reduced our giving, and the Lord doesn’t give abundant increase to those who hoard it for themselves.
God’s ways are not our ways, those who give with a cheerful heart unto the Lord can expect an increase to do more good works for His glory and name. And that is the difference between the true gospel and the false one. The true gospel says “Give in a way that glorifies God and exalts His name”; the false gospel says “If you want more you have to give more, give to get!”
When we give to glorify His name and not our own, we reap bountifully so that we can continue to give in ways that glorify Him. Consider the parable of the talents, those that are faithful with what they’ve been given are given more, because they’ve shown themselves to be trustworthy. Yet the one who refused to do anything with the talent (a unit of money) had it taken away and given to the good steward (Matt. 25:21-29).
Now consider the heart of the servants, a very important part of the parable. The good stewards didn’t invest what they were entrusted with so that they could have more for themselves, they did it out of love and respect for their master who gave it to them. The good stewards sought the expansion of their master’s influence, not their own. The unfaithful servant in the story wrongly thought ill of his master and tried to hide his laziness with excuses, and consequently had everything he was entrusted with taken from him. Which servant are you? Which servant do you desire to be?
#CalledtoBattle
