The verses highlighted in this post are from Section I of our Investing Challenge.
“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.” ~II Corinthians 9:6-7
Well, the first part of these verses is pretty self-explanatory.
If you invest little, you will receive little, and if you invest much, you will receive much. And as we heard in a previous post, this is all a matter of faith. The farmer who plants a crop doesn’t get to see the harvest for months, so if you have an issue with instant gratification like I do, this whole investing thing may be a little hard, but, that’s where we come to the next phrase in these verses, and it’s here I want to camp. “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give”
The title of this post is a phrase I used ALL the time when I was younger, and it was usually not a positive thing. It was an accusation toward someone, that what they had just done to me was NOT on accident as they were trying to pretend. (I won’t say what they did to me was undeserved, but it for sure wasn’t accidental!) But I think the phrase also applies to giving in a more positive way. God’s call to us is to make a choice on whether we will be investors, or hoarders. If we don’t give on purpose, we’re probably not going to do it at all. “Giving on accident” isn’t really a common practice as far as I know. My main question on this though, is how do I purpose to give, and do it cheerfully without it being forced, or faked? I mean, I may be able to MAKE myself give, but then, I fall into the category of giving “grudgingly, or of necessity” meaning that I feel like I HAVE to.
I think there’s a tier principle that applies here. So, let’s lay it out.
I. In order to purpose in your heart, you have to believe it in your heart.
II. In order to believe it in your heart, it has to actually be in your heart!
We need to be putting God’s promises in our hearts, we need to believe them, and we need to base our resolve on them.
When that’s been done, giving cheerfully is a natural outcome because it is based on our confident belief that God is going to do all the things He has promised to do when we obey Him and give. That’s why this Journey Challenge is so amazing; it is giving us the verses and concepts to put in our heart to build our belief system in God’s principle of investing. Here are some more verses to give you a little extra fuel to feed the fire of faith:
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
“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:” II Corinthians 9:8
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malechi 3:10
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33
There are so many more, but I couldn’t think of them all so there are just a few to get you started.
With promises like these in our hearts, purposing to invest, to focus on the eternal instead of the temporal, should become something natural in our lives, and it should result in giving with utter joy and cheerfulness, because we KNOW that there is no better investment that we can make.
But this is all good in theory. Let’s see it in action!
Click here to read Part II and look at a real life example!!
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