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God blesses us because He’s a good God. He loves us and wants us to prosper. But there’s a reason He blesses us with abundance.
He has an agenda: to bless us so we can bless others.
When we are generous, God often gives us more so we can give more.
Let’s take a look at the passage in 2 Corinthians where Paul wrote about sowing and reaping. It describes God’s ability to make His grace “abound”—to overflow in our lives. But then Paul uses an agricultural metaphor to explain why:
As it is written: “He has scattered abroad His gifts to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God (2 Corinthians 9:9-11).
God gives seed to the sower—that’s the farmer’s resource. To put the agricultural metaphor in spiritual terms, that’s all the money God ever gives us. The farmer takes part in what he receives and makes bread with it. He has to take care of himself and his family. But there’s also a “store of seed,” and he has to decide what to do with it. Does he keep building bigger barns to hold all his seed? Or does he reinvest the seed in the ground so it will multiply?
Paul writes about an increase in the store of seed so that the harvest will increase. And in the context of generosity, this increase is a “harvest of righteousness.”
Do you see the principle? God wants to bless our lives spiritually, relationally, and materially—or, as Paul says, “in every way.” Why? So we can be generous “on every occasion.”
He pours out His blessing on us so our needs can be met, but also so we can reinvest in others. This is how the storehouse multiplies and our “harvest of righteousness” increases. Every step of faith is met with greater reward. The result is thanksgiving to God.
That’s God’s genius in generosity. He guards our hearts against greed by blessing us when we give away what we have.
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About this Plan
Generosity is genius. In this five-day reading plan adapted from his book, The Genius of Generosity, Chip Ingram explores how we can become the brilliant people we were meant to be—those who understand and benefit from the genius of generosity. Examine God’s design for giving and how He intends to bless those who become living expressions of His generous heart.
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