Finding Financial Balance: GivingSample

GIVING BOUNTIFULLY

God is bringing a great harvest, and He wants you to have the joy of being part of it! Will your part be bountiful? In 2 Corinthians 9:6, Paul says, “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” This passage does not say that if we give to God, He will make us financially rich to spend it on ourselves. Rather, being a bountiful reaper has to do with our part in the harvest of God’s Kingdom. In one way or another, our giving is used by God for the transformation of people by the gospel of Christ.

God is bringing a great harvest of lost souls into His kingdom, and He invites you to be part of this harvest through your actions, witness, and giving. And for the one who catches the vision for what investing in this harvest can mean, He gives more so that a person can give more and accomplish more. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8) Don’t worry about running out! Don’t worry about giving too much! If you truly want to be able to give, He will give you what you need to give. “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:11)

We get to be part of what God is doing in this world! We get to inspire thanksgiving! We get to experience the joy of seeing lives transformed! We get to experience the joy of our own lives being transformed at the same time! Our giving is not really the gift. Being invited to be part of what God is doing in this world, especially through the gospel of Christ, is the true gift.

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15)

Ask Yourself:

— Would I describe myself as sowing sparingly or sowing bountifully?

— Is the prospect of being part of a bountiful harvest of souls for Christ exciting to me?

Pause to Pray: Dear Jesus, thank you for saving my soul and adding me to your harvest! Help me to grow as a laborer and as a giver so that I may have the joy of being part of your bountiful harvest. Amen.

Take a Next Step: Choose one way to be a bountiful giver in the next week.

Find more resources at www.whoisgrace.com/READ.