2 Corinthians 9:6-9

⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”

Dumping

If you have excessive harvest, what would you do? Farmers dumped more than 3 tons of mangoes on the roadside because no one would buy them. There was oversupply accordingly. There were more mango sellers than buyers in the area. They also gave free mangoes to neighbors rather than letting those mango rot. But still there was over production.

Over production of fruit like apples happens around the city. Apple fruits are scattered on the ground before they were harvested. They also publish on social media free picking of apple fruits. And may God bless us more abundantly to share our abundance to people who are in need.

Let’s reflect on Deuteronomy 15:10, ¹⁰Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.

It’s by the grace of God we trust that he blesses to be generous. His grace overflows through us so that we give cheerfully. We give our time to praise and thank him for his blessings. God fills our heart with gratitude for his blessing, and we praise and thank him as response. By human instinct, we would never praise God. On our own volition, we turn our back to God.

Many people proclaim, “I praise you God for who you are!” So, who is God to you? God is my redeemer. He redeemed me from the punishment of my sins. God is my provider. He provided everything I need for godly life: health, safety, strength, skill, food. We praise God for what he did for us.

God instructed to return his right portion or 10% of my income, why? I trust that God provided me income. Therefore, I return 10% of my income as his right portion as proof my trust. I also give additional amount as my practical proof of gratitude that he provides my needs for godly life.

I believe that God gave me life, health, strength, safety, skill, vision, alertness, free oxygen, good governance, peace and order, opportunities, and acquaintances. Returning to God 10% of my income and additional amount as my offering is practically sowing seeds for my next harvest.

1. Harvest

⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,       and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 

I had my surgery in May 2025, and I was not able to plant that much.

This year, I feel more comfortable, and I planted more. Obviously, I’ve harvested this year more than last year. So, I was able to share more of the fruit on my harvest than last year. We harvest what we plant. To harvest more, we plant more. We can cultivate, water and fertilize our plants. But who makes plants grow or bear fruit? God makes plants grow or bear fruit.

Apostle Paul testified in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8, ⁶I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. ⁷So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. ⁸The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.

Surely, Apostle Paul was talking about spiritual seed he planted. And we believe that God makes plants and trees grow. So, he can easily make anything grow abundantly. And returning his right portion is practical proof of our trust that God can easily grow his blessings for us more abundantly.

Planting is regular activity. If we stop planting, we cannot expect any harvest later. Similarly, we return the tithes of God regularly because we trust that he makes faith in him bears fruit abundantly in his right timing.

Additionally, we also plant spiritual seeds when we testify for Christ. When we share the gospel of salvation and potential believers listen and desire to know more about God’s grace and love, he made their spiritual life grow and sprout. When we teach everything that Christ commanded, it is called watering and cultivating spiritually or discipleship process.

Farmer

A movie feature a farmer who harvested much fruit from his orchard, and he prospered. His relatives heard that he used special fertilizer. They asked the farmer to give them just few bags of his special fertilizers. He told them that the fertilizer he used are good for trees but not good for veggies.

His relatives who were vegetable farmers think that he was just stingy and not wanting them to grow better veggies. Secretly at night, they went to steal a few bags of special fertilizer and used them in their vegetable farm. Few days later, their vegetable plants died. They complained to the farmer and demanded compensation. Foolishly, they admitted to their crime.

There are different kind of fertilizer, and there are different timing when to fertilize plants and trees. There are particular fertilizer for plants and trees and even for grass. Fertilizers for leafy veggies are different from fertilizers to be used for fruit bearing veggies. Similarly, there are spiritual lessons for discipleship. There are spiritual lessons for new believers.

And there are spiritual lessons to sustain different maturity in faith. Spiritual lessons are spiritual food. Milk for infants, solid food for adults.   It announces in Hebrews 5:12-14, ¹²In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Solid food is difficult for infants to digest. Likewise, spiritually infant believers cannot digest solid spiritual foods. In Sunday school, participants are encourage to facilitate or lead. To lead in Sunday school is practical process to discover, if you are gifted in teaching or leading. The more you prepare to teach, the more you learn and internalize your lesson.

We get more opportunity to grow spiritual knowledge when we spend time to learn spiritual truth. To build physical resistance and strength, we exercises. Similarly, we exercise spiritual gift to build spiritual resistance and strength. We grow spiritually mature, if we give our heart obeying God.

2. Heart

⁷Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 

The term “for” indicates purpose, reason or beneficiary. “God loves a cheerful giver” is a purpose we decide in our heart to give. Cheerful givers give what they decided in their heart to give. If there’s reluctance, it’s not cheerful giving. There’s no pressure in cheerful giving. Instead, we sense love from God. So, cheerful giving is spontaneous response to God’s love.

Immigrant

Experts suggest the Filipinos value relationship. Filipino immigrants may choose to return to the Philippines rather than visiting other countries.

There are immigrants who choose cruise tours rather than returning to their country of origin, why? Someone said, they spend money on cruise tours lesser than visiting their relatives and friends in their country of origin.

When relatives from abroad return home to the Philippines, they may expect gifts. How much do you normally spend for relatives and friends when you return to your country of origin? How about aboard cruise tour?

On cruise tour, you only spend for yourself and your family. Returning to your country of origin, you share abundance to relatives and friends.

Give only an amount you are willing to give and not pressured. If you are pressured to give, you could not enjoy your vacation. But if you’re glad that you shared your blessings to relatives, will God bless you even more?

Generosity is our testimony. Giving intentionally is practical proof of our trust that God provided for the abundance we share. So, if we accept that God blessed us abundantly, then we’ve got cheerful heart when we give. Seriously reflect on Colossians 3:15-17, ¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Peace from God reflects our trust that he always takes care of our needs for godly life. Have you experienced it when you sing songs of praise spontaneously? You just want to thank and praise God for many blessings he showered in your life. Thankfulness to God amplifies as our testimony.

Together, let reflect on Philippians 4:6-7, ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Peace from God prevents anxiousness about anything. We may not easily describe in human language how Christ Jesus guards our hearts and minds. Nevertheless, we could be more intentionally smart when we share our abundance to our love ones. We desire God to be glorified in our life.

We freely give without any pressure so that recipients may know that God blessed us so that we can be generous. Our generosity should cause recipients to thank and praise God. We cheerfully give when God blesses us. May God increase our faith and trust him for all the concerns we have.

3. Have

⁸And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all     times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”

Our mission purpose is to abound, thrive, flourish and prosper in every good work, particularly, in charity or in the grace of giving.

May God bless us abundantly in all things at all time and have all we need.  It says, “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” What are the pronouns “They and their” pertain to? They point to generous givers who freely scatter gifts, especially to the poor. Giving cheerfully is eternally righteous in the eyes of God.

Seriously reflect on Proverbs 19:17 (ESV), ¹⁷Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

Corrupt Politicians

Do you know which class in the society complain against corrupt politicians? Middle class who do not need free hands out. The poor people would vote for corrupt politicians, why? Corrupt politicians are generous to the poor. And the poor would rather vote for those who can give them immediate satisfaction. They cannot wait long term gratification. If the poor can think for long term progress, they would not be dependent on freebies.

The Scripture teaches that the Lord will repay the generous for his deed. It did mention that corrupt politicians are excluded, right? Why would God allow corrupt politicians to be elected? Does God let corrupt politicians to be elected so that they would particularly look out for the poor people?

Anyway, we would rather be generous giver than corrupt. The wise and wealthy King Solomon advised in Proverbs 3:5-10, ⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. ⁷Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. ⁸This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. ⁹Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; ¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

King Solomon was wealthiest king in his generation. How did King Solomon become rich? He trusted the Lord, and God gave him wisdom. The practical application of his trust in the Lord is to honor the Lord with his wealth, with the firstfruits of his crops. Returning the right portion of God is practical proof of trust that he gives wisdom and ability to produce wealth.

Someone said, “If I can trust God for his promise to give me eternal life, I could trust him that he also sustains my practical needs in life.” We trust that God sacrificed his Son Jesus Christ on the cross just to reconcile us to himself. We pray that God increases our faith to trust that he sustains our practical needs to cheerfully give as testimony of his love and grace.

May God always fill us with the Holy Spirit to be cheerfully give!

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