To Sow, To Reap

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously (2 Corinthians 9:6).

Do you always sow intentionally expecting?  Sometimes I give of myself, time, resources, money, whatever without even contemplating that I’m sowing seed and that seed will produce a harvest. 

I often think of it that way when I’m preaching because I can’t control how someone receives or doesn’t receive what I feel God is saying on a given day, all I can do is sow the seed and trust the God of the process. I've been thinking recently that I want to attempt to sow everything to God in this way because then I know where to reap.

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:7-8).

I want to be a cheerful, generous giver.  I want to sow love, grace, peace, joy, encouragement, and godliness because I know I’ll reap that back in the most amazing ways so I’ll be fully supplied, abounding in “every good work.”

I know we don’t give to get.  It’s not an “I’ll send $456 to XYZ Ministries so God will pay all my bills.”  It’s not about manipulating God.  But He does say that if we sow, we will reap and even the way we sow—sparingly or generously—will be the way we reap.

Right now I may have an abundance of faith so I can sow that to God to encourage my brother or sister who is struggling.  Then when things get harder and I struggle, I can expect the same lift.  I don’t know how God does it, but He does it!

On Saturday, our church committed to bless our community. Now, it was a relatively small group who worked hard to put this together and see it through, but the entire church sowed together.  We had games, prizes, and candy for the trick-or-treaters in the mall where we were set up.

With two hours of prep time and the three hours we were open, we sowed as generously as we could.  Each little bag of goodies had a little card attached that said we were giving it to show God’s love and had our church information there as well.  We ended up giving out over 120 bags! (Not to mention juice pouches and bottled water).

I prayed that night as I drove home and I prayed this morning that those cards would be illuminated to people. I prayed that what we sowed would result in people coming to know Jesus.  It may be some of those we met yesterday; it may be different people altogether.  They may come to our church; they may go somewhere else. That's not the point.

The point is that we sowed in faith, not in people but in God.  We turned it all over to Him, and we can expect a harvest.  Since I’m not in the market for some candy, I ask that God touch people’s lives and bring them to know Jesus in the most life-changing and transformative way possible. 

There are always more and other opportunities to sow, but I don’t want miss the opportunities and excitement to reap either. Through it all, I want to sow to Him so we can reap from Him.


 I am expecting.