He will multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness

2 Corinthians 9 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

For it is superfluous for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints; ² for I know your willingness, of which I boast about you to the Macedonians, namely, that Achaia has been prepared since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. ³ But I have sent the brothers, in order that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this case, so that, as I was saying, you will be prepared; ⁴ otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to mention you—would be put to shame by this confidence. ⁵ So I considered it necessary to urge the brothers that they go on ahead to you and arrange in advance your previously promised generous gift, that the same would be ready as a generous gift, and not as one grudgingly given due to greediness.

⁶ Now I say this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that, always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; ⁹ as it is written:

“He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor,
His righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰ Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; ¹¹ you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. ¹² For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. ¹³ Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, ¹⁴ while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

In John 10:10 Jesus says:  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” What is the abundance of Christ? He says we will have life abundantly, not that we will have an abundance or an excess of things in this life. In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus says:  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  What we do have in abundance, is an abundance of God’s grace. 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul tells us God told him: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  God’s abundant grace is sufficient for our every need.  In today’s text Paul says:  Now I say this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows generously will also reap generously. Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that, always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.  It is by sowing into the kingdom that we store up treasure in heaven. Far too often we think of abundance in material terms. Sowing into the kingdom is about more than money. It is not that we should not give tithes and offerings to God through the church, but we should also sow into the kingdom in all that we do.  God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that, always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.

The text says: He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.   Abundance comes through multiplication. If you multiply anything by zero, you have zero. If you multiply by one, there is no increase, it remains the same. In order for us to truly know the abundance of God; in order that there would be increase, we need to add to what we have been given. The thing is, we don’t need to add our things or our strength. In Psalm 50:10-12 God says:  Every animal of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and everything it contains.  What we add to the equation in order that we experience the abundance of God is our obedience and our willingness. It is that we do all that we do according to His will.

In Matthew 25:21;23 Jesus tells us of the response to those who were faithful with what God gave them:  ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’  That is the result of storing up treasure in heaven. That is our destiny in Christ, that is the result of living the abundant life Christ gives us, to enter the joy of our Master. The only way for us to reach our destiny, is to faithfully walk in our calling, whatever God has for us to do. Romans 12:3-8 says:  God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another. However, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to use them properly: if prophecy, in proportion to one’s faith; if service, in the act of serving; or the one who teaches, in the act of teaching; or the one who exhorts, in the work of exhortation; the one who gives, with generosity; the one who is in leadership, with diligence; the one who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.  In order for us to reach our destiny, in order that we would hear the words: ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master,’ we need to add our willingness and obedience to what God has given us.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, all that I have is from You. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. I choose to add my willingness and my obedience to what You have given. May I walk in the sufficiency of Your abundant grace. May all that I do be sown into the treasure of heaven. By Your grace, may I fulfill my destiny and hear the words, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’   Amen.