2 Corinthians 9: 6-7 (ESV)
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Before I ever worked on my friends farm I had a hobby food forest on my homestead. It is a family tradition. My Grandpa Cowan had grape vineyards in Oregon and roses gardens for my Grandma Nova. My Dad had an impressive home orchard down here in the valley and so do I. Mine is cooler, just saying. But when I first started gardening I would often get disappointed and even upset that I was not reaping much of a harvest. Apparently God would make sure that his birds got their share, then the takuaches, followed by the raccoons getting their portion. Then the ones I missed, the bugs got. After everyone's cut I would be left with a few papayas here, a few mangoes there and so on and so forth.
At some point the sentiment of this verse became apparent, I wasn't sowing enough. I was sowing sparingly and also was reaping sparingly. Quickly my plan changed to sowing bountifully. One of my projects I started 30 papayas, that yielded about 20 viable, strong plants that got planted in the field. Of course a few died in the transplanting. I hit another one with a tractor. Then winter came and killed two more. Now I had about 13 left. After God’s little critters took their cut of the fruit, we were still swimming in papayas. We reaped bountifully.
At the time if I talked to you, you were going to be walking away with a couple of papayas. Especially if you said you don't like papayas. I would have joyfully told you “These are different, not like the ones from the store!”. I was definitely a cheerful giver. At my homestead I sow into pots and then into plots, here at the church we sow into ministries that strive to help our people and others to know God and make Him known. We sow with our hands and feet as volunteers, and we also sow at the offertory plate. We see the work being done and the fruit being harvested. In this season we can not help ourselves from being anything other than cheerful givers. Lets pray
Father God, thank you for making yourself known to us. Lord you alone are more than enough, yet in your kindness you bless us. Jesus you have pulled us from the flames, thank you. Holy Spirit, continue to point us to Christ, continue to sanctify us, work in us to be more Christ-like. All mighty God, move us to sow in abundance. Show us the fruit that is yielded by our obedience. God, bless the offering we receive today, may they be sown in the fertile soil of this church’s ministries. May they yield abundantly for your glory. Amen.
Christopher W. Cowan