- 163. Reap Bountifully
2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
The conditional promise: if you reap bountifully, then you will reap bountifully. The opposite is: if you reap sparingly you will reap sparingly. In other words, you will reap what you sow. If you reap a little you will reap a little; if you sow a lot you will reap a lot. Every farmer and sower knows this principle of life. The correlation is well known in all aspects of life. We don’t always act like we know, but we do actually know it.
The physical principle is also true spiritually. But in this context the physical sowing seems to be mixed with the spiritual. That is, if you give to the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem you will receive back in like manner as you have given, a lot or a little. The promise is true whether we can mathematically count it up or not. Surely, God will provide for our needs in some degree as we give to His work. However, the reaping may often be spiritual reward and riches. Generous givers can count on the promise that the reaping will be commensurate with the sowing, but the rewards that come back may be spiritual joy and peace and contentment.
Whether the reaping is spiritual or material or both is not the point. The point is that we can be sure that giving to God’s work will never be a waste or a loss; it will always come back to the giver in ways that only God can measure. Even though corruption may creep into Christian and charitable organizations, we can still count on God that it will be useful and productive. And we can count on the promise to assure us that commensurate blessing will come to the generous giver.
We could probably make some sort of scientific study of this principle to see if “sowing-reaping” is true, or we can anecdotally ask generous givers if they have ever been disappointed or if they have been blessed because of giving to the Lord. But we don’t need scientific studies or anecdotal information to know that the conditional promise is real. God will do what He says. He will accurately account for the promised principles of life as He has ordained and promised.