By Lynna Clark
Now that our hearts are giving, it’s okay to ask God for a blessing. It’s a beautiful cycle giving, receiving, blessing and being blessed until it’s hard to tell which is which. We bless our community with what we can to meet their needs. They are encouraged and in turn give back to the church. We are enabled by those gifts to reach more and the blessings continue. Wouldn’t you hate to miss all that? Galatians 6:2-10 sums it up by saying, “Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody.” [Come on Paul. Don’t hold back. Tell us how you really feel.]
“Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else; for we are each responsible for our own conduct. Those who are taught the Word of God should help their teachers by paying them. Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow! Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death.” [Designer shoes are looking pretty worthless right about here.]
“But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and sisters.”
WOW! Did you hear all that? Or did you revert to some sermon you heard years ago that caused you to think the Lord is waiting on you to mess up so He can take your stuff? Look at the part where we reap a “harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.” Sounds bountiful! Sounds like a big ol’ cornucopia [thank the Lord for spell check] spilling out blessings we cannot even begin to ask for! Some basic principles of sowing and reaping are:
- We always reap the same thing we sow
- We always reap later than we sow
- We always reap more than we sow
Easy illustration: You plant corn, you get corn. You get it later and you get more than the few kernels you dropped in the dirt. In ministry it works the same. Plant; receive; harvest; increase.
Prayer for today: Let’s ask the Lord of the harvest to bless our sowing and multiply our reaping. We can plant and we can water, but only God gives the increase. Now watch out! Fire up those John Deere and get ready for the bounty. The barns are about to explode!
More: Ephesians 6:6 1 Corinthians 3:5-9
“Remember, O my God, all that I have done for these people, and bless me for it.” –Nehemiah 5:19
