Footsteps #189

Galatians 6 talks about our moral lives, but Paul uses the same Law of the Harvest in 2Cor.9 to speak to our stewardship lives. Is it a hard and fast promise that a person who sows generously with his money will always reap financial benefits?  I would answer with an unequivocal “yes and no.” Look at v8 again for part of the answer. This verse contains the word “all” four times and “every” once: all grace, all things, all times, all that you need, every good work. That’s about as close to an absolute promise you can find. But notice too that he says, “God is able . . .” to do this, not “God will do this.” Whether He does so seems to depend upon the heart of the individual. Is the giver’s heart set to accumulate wealth and possessions, or is their heart to give more? If the latter, then I think the promise is reliable and absolute. Notice that God’s purpose in blessing the generous person is that they “will abound in every good work,” not that they will become rich for selfish purposes. This is made even more explicit in v11. Again it does not say that your giving will be rewarded so that you can accumulate wealth you never dreamed of. It says your giving will be rewarded so that you can continue to be generous. Keeping that in perspective, there are a legion of Scriptures that promise God’s reward, even financial reward, to those who give generously: Prov.3:9-10: Prov.22:24-25: Prov.19:17: Prov.28:27: Mal.3:10: The point of all of these passages seems to be this: the more you give, the more God gives back so that you can continue to give. But if it is true that God will make us rich in every way so that we can be generous on every occasion, why don’t we see more of this?  William Colgate felt the urge to tithe because he recognized that God was the giver of all that he possessed. He tithed 1/10th then 2/10ths then 3 then 4 until has tithing 5/10ths of his income. The more he gave the more God blessed.