Following the “Master Farmer”

In this part of Pennsylvania you cannot drive one mile without seeing multiple corn and soybean fields.  It is very beautiful and yet very functional as well.  I was reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church this morning and was reminded of the principle of “sowing and reaping”.  In verse 6 Paul writes this:  ⁶ But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  Many of us have heard this before.  Paul is not speaking of crops here but rather of giving.  Like the farmer who sows his seed in faith of a crop, we give in faith, trusting that God will provide for our financial needs and also trusting that God will use our money for His glory.  Now read what Paul writes in verse 10: ¹⁰ Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, ¹¹ while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.  

God doesn’t promise us a money tree but He promises us something far better.  He says that the seed we have sown will lead to an increase in the fruits of our righteousness and ultimately cause others to be thankful to God.  When we give to God, like the Corinthians were doing, God takes that “seed” and produces in us and others actions and attitudes that bring glory to God.  But the sowing is up to us.  God has abundantly provided resources to us and He wants us to sow them back into Him and His work.  But, like the farmer, we have to sow in faith.  As God has abundantly “sown” Himself into us, let us abundantly follow our “Master Farmer” and give of our resources and wait for the abundant harvest, both in our lives and in the lives of those we touch.