Sow Generously to Reap Generosity

Sow Generously to Reap Generosity

BY RICK WARREN — FEBRUARY 13, 2015

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“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”(2 Corinthians 9:6-7 NIV)

If a farmer goes out with a trailer load of beans, and he plants them in a barren field, what fruit does he expect to bear? Watermelon? Cucumbers? No. He’s going to get beans. He doesn’t doubt it. He doesn’t question it. Because whatever you plant is what you’re going to get back.

This is the law of reproduction, and it applies to every single area of your life — especially in your finances.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (NIV).

This can work either positively or negatively in your life. If you’re planting seeds of kindness, you know what? People are going to be kind to you. If you forgive others, they are going to be forgiving of you. If you’re generous, people are going to be generous with you.

But if you are angry all the time, people are going to respond in anger. If you cheat other people, people are going to cheat you. If you gossip about other people, guess what? People are going to gossip about you.

The law of reproduction says you reap what you sow, but the principle of multiplication says you will also always reap more than you sow.

When you put one kernel of corn in the ground, you don’t get one kernel of corn back. You get a cornstalk with multiple ears on it and hundreds of kernels on each of those ears. This is the exponential power that God has established the universe to handle. You always get more out of it than you put into it.

It’s why I never, ever attack my attackers. Why? I don’t want to get caught in the chain. No matter what anybody says to me, I don’t want to say anything bad back to them because if I do, I’m going to reap more than I sowed. What I choose to do is the exact opposite. I want to bless them. I want to pray for them. Why? Because that’s what I want to receive, and I always reap more than I sow.

Proverbs 11:24 says, “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller” (MSG).

PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>

Talk It Over

• How have you seen the principle of multiplication applied in your life?
• What is it that you expect from your investments? How are you sowing so that you can receive what you expect to reap?
• How do you want God to make your world larger (Proverbs 11:24)? What do you need to change about your finances so that he can increase your influence and giving?

Practice Excellence TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” (Colossians 3:23, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria You can probably think of many times in which you simply did not give your best effort, or didn’t really try very hard. Every person, because of our human imperfections, sometimes chooses to be lazy and not try. But the example given by Christ, and the one mentioned in Colossians 3, is completely the opposite. Christians are to be the best at whatever they do, because they are to do everything as if they were doing it for God alone! When you put your whole heart into whatever it is you are supposed to do, God will recognize that and bless you for it. You should strive for and pursue excellence in all you do, for the sake of God; He blesses excellence! A PRAYER FOR TODAY God, I want to do my work and everything else with true excellence. Give me Your power to be an example of Christ to those around me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. PS... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UUpeImcnqA