Pix: Visual Stories || Micheile on Unsplash
It is said, that the most important things in life are free. Think of it, the vital elements of water, air and fire are free. They are available to the just and the unjust as well. It is true physically as well as spiritually.
Someone now says, ‘But there is a price to pay!’ True, there is a price. Jesus has paid the price. Do you want someone to pay it again? Why do you want people to do something else for their deliverance that was paid for by Jesus Christ? Is the Cross not sufficient? Why do you want to add to what Jesus has done? Do you diminish the efficacy of the complete work of Christ for your selfish purpose? Your giving should not be a price you pay but the love you share.
The ability to give wholeheartedly is a grace gift from God given to every believer. Some have this gift in a unique measure. Yes, some are givers to a fault. Their generosity is uncommon gifting (See Romans 12:6-8).
Nevertheless, the Lord is the one that gives everyone seed to sow and food to eat so we do not boast of what we have received as a gift (2 Corinthians 9:10).
Receiving a harvest is also a grace of God. If God does not give the increase, you are wasting your time (see 1 Corinthians 3:6-7). This is even true naturally.
While we must sow to reap, the receiving of a good harvest is very much in God’s hands: the dying of the seed, its germinating, budding and fruiting are all in His determination.
Our involvement in the process is His grace, as He invites us to participate in the creation of new life; in the multiplication process, and to be the beneficiaries thereof.
No matter how much you genetically alter a seed, it will still have to die first for it to bear fruit, and when it dies you cannot give it back its life.
The death of a seed is an essential element in the process of giving and receiving. It indicates that you must have absolute faith and dependence on the determination of God.
When a seed dies, nobody except God can give it life again. Jesus expressed this truth when he said, I lay down my life, and I take it back again. This man speaking was Almighty God!
Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father- John 10:17-18, NKJV.
Giving and receiving on the side of God is a matter of His grace, that is, His covenant love in action. On our side, it is of faith working by love; not faith in the seed, but faith in God, who gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater and multiplies the seed that is sown. It is He that is important, for it is He that gives the increase.
Giving and receiving is not about you. It is about Him. It is of faith that it might be by grace. I cannot boast of myself in my giving or my receiving. I can only glory in God. He says whatsoever we do, we should do all things to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
The ones who do the planting or watering aren’t important, but God is important because he is the one who makes the seed grow -1 Corinthians 3:7, NLT.
Serious-minded farmers will tell you that when they plant, they look up to God for the harvest, not to their planting, vital as it might be.
Those who worship other gods will even pray to their gods: of harvest, of rain, of their ancestors, etc. They are invariably saying, ‘True we have planted, but the harvest is not in our hands,’ but in the hands of the deity they venerate.
God also uses the principle of sowing and reaping to distinguish between those that are His and those that are not.
The Bible says that Isaac sowed in the land. I would like to clarify that this, ‘sowing in the land’ by Isaac, was not a “prophet’s offering” to Pastor Melchizedek, nor was it a seed into the temple fund. No, it was an agricultural investment. The man planted maize, wheat, millet, or whatever it was that they cultivated in his day.
What was unique and miraculous was that he received a hundred-fold harvest in a time of famine! Only God does such a thing. It was the same land that his heathen neighbours may have sown and received nothing anywhere near what God did through Isaac. It goes to attest that God is not restricted to prosper the work of His people by socioeconomic or natural circumstances.
Consequently, the natural response of the people would be, “What manner of God does this man worship? His God is different from our gods.” They will bow down and worship God, or they will in disdain, envy and hate those that worship Him.
Either way, God will be glorified, as the focus will be on Him. Yes, Isaac is blessed, and God is glorified. God takes pleasure and receives glory from blessing His people and making His people be a blessing to others.
The bottom line is that God is the central focus whether we give or receive, whether we sow or reap. Faith in God is primarily about Him, not about us.
True Christian giving and receiving is Christocentric in its entirety, but the essence of the ‘prosperity gospel’ according to some ‘men of God’ is about sowing a Toyota Camry so that you can reap a Hummer. You miss the mark!
Our use of money or other material resources, as believers, is stewardship geared toward glorifying the Lord. All we have belongs to Him and should be managed as He determines. When we submit to His determination, we are blessed in all ramifications.
By the way, capital investment in a profitable business is Biblical. When Jesus taught about money, He also taught about using it as a means of investment to make a profit. The parable of the talents is such an example (Matthew 25:4-30).
I heard Pastor Robert Morris say, “A good steward spends wisely, saves diligently and gives generously.” God uses these principles to build the wealth of His people.
Without discounting the truth that giving as led by the Spirit of God, through the principles of His word is the highest form of investment, investing or entrepreneurship is an indisputable form of sowing and reaping not diligently emphasized in the Church. It is one reason why, even though many give tithes and offerings diligently, they remain at financial fringes. They have not been told the whole story. Why?
Nevertheless, many great churches hold financial and entrepreneurial training and support programs based on Biblical principles. Their members benefit so much and return with a grateful heart. They become a blessing to their families, their ministers, their leaders and their churches. They become assets to their communities as they support the gospel of the Kingdom conscientiously.
I hope this blog has blessed you. Next would be the third and concluding part of this topic. Until then, do not forget to keep living, loving and learning. Thank you.
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