“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” (2Cor 9:10-11)
Last month we saw that Paul compared our financial gifts to seed, that seed should not be hoarded, eaten, or wasted, and that it should be our pleasure to generously sow that seed into God’s work. It is encouraging to know that God is in control of the process from beginning to end. He supplies the seed and the final product, bread for food. He also is the one who causes growth. Paul had earlier written a similar thing to the Corinthians, who were squabbling over who did what, when he said: What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? ...I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. (1Cor 3:5-6)
You may remember the widow of Zerepath (1Kgs 17), who fed the prophet Elijah during times of famine and who did so on the promise that though her meager resources were down to her last meal, “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry.” The result was that “there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.” The ultimate end and goal of all this is that “your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” The beautiful thing about obeying God is that everyone is blessed.
Acting in faith means acting on what God has promised. He has promised to provide the seed to the sower, cause growth, and provide bread for food. We can participate joyfully and generously in the process when we believe the promise that God will meet our needs when we give.
See it progress at our Building Project Video page.
View a 3D model in Google Earth. (The model takes 5-15 minutes to render the first time depending on how fast your machine is — make sure you have the latest version of Google Earth)
