Reaping A Bountiful Harvest

Reaping a Bountiful Harvest

by Pastor Jim May

We are well into the Fall season of the year right now. The harvest of fall crops is in full swing. I was talking to my friend who is a sugar cane planter a short time ago and learned that his crops were doing very well. Unless the weather was to turn quickly against him, this should be bountiful year, since his cane is producing above normal yield both in quality and quantity.

There are a lot of farmers out there who are having some bountiful crops this year, but there are many who are not. What is the difference? Why do some produce a lot while others seem to be wanting?

The differences may be the result of many things. Perhaps some had more rain, or less damaging wind than others. Perhaps some had more fertile ground than others. There could be differences in workers, the kind and quality of seed that was used, or maybe even in the machinery used to do the reaping.

I believe that most of the differences can be attributed to one major point. The differences can be the result of God’s laws of sowing and reaping.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8, "But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:"

God’s Law of Sowing and Reaping is irrefutable and yet there are many today who attempt to ignore it and get by.

In the natural sense, if a farmer buys or uses inferior seed – he is going to reap an inferior crop, or no crop at all. If a farmer uses lazy workers who try to find every shortcut possible to avoid any hard labor in the hot sun, then his crops will likely be sparse at best. If a farmer uses worn out machinery, not only will the breakdowns and repairs cut into the profits he makes, but they may well ruin what little he is able to reap. If a farmer refuses to work with his fields and just lets them “make it on its own”, he may reap a crop of weeds rather than anything that can be sold for a profit.

My friend with the sugar cane told me that he has to trade in his combines every two years. That’s a piece of machinery that can run over $100,000. But it can cost him so much more than that if it breaks down for several days or weeks in the middle of harvest time. The loss is just not worth the risk!

The fact is that no matter what the crop is, that farmer must abide by the Laws of Sowing and Reaping if he expects to come out ahead in the end. He can’t take the easy way or the cheap way.

When God says that we will reap bountifully if we sow bountifully, He knows exactly what He is saying and He is saying what He means. We can either obey Him or lose.

If my friend were to suddenly decide that he hated sugar cane farming, I wonder how his harvest would go then. Certainly he gets tired of it, but he must love the business or he wouldn’t do as well with it. It is my experience that you can’t hate what you are doing and then do a very good job at it. Life is too short to be miserable all the time.

I know a lot of people who hate getting up in the morning, hate going to their job, and hate everything about it, but they keep going back day after day, living in total misery. I wonder how much good they are doing for themselves, or for their employer? How can a worker who is miserable be a very good worker?

That’s why Paul told the Corinthians that God loves a cheerful giver. Cheerful givers are people who love what they do. They may not always agree with decisions from the top. They may not always like to do everything that they are asked to do, but all things considered, they really like what they are doing to benefit themselves and mankind.

Now all of this is wonderful, right and good to talk about but what does it have to do with you and I, right here and now? What spiritual message is Paul trying to drill into the hearts of the Corinthian church?

In the church world I see many Christians who are trying to short-circuit God’s Laws of Sowing and Reaping.