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My, there’s a lot in today’s lesson scripture!  Maybe my sense of this abundance comes from the way in which 2 Corinthians 9 describes God’s abundant grace in calling upon us to emulate him in this regard.  Here’s today’s lesson:

6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.
9 As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
10 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 every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us;
12 for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.  2 Cor 9:6-12 (NRSV)

God wants us to give, but he wants us to give as he gave: freely out of his abundant grace and love.  This is what it means to be part of God’s “New Creation“.  We sow the message of reconciliation and new creation and reap the harvest of a wider circle of reconciliation and righteousness.  “God loves a cheerful giver” – the spirit in which we sow is vitally important – why is this . . . so?

 I’m reminded of a sermon Jim McCormick delivered a few years ago about the Parable of the Sower.  Most of the time we consider the parable as it was explained by Jesus: comparing the seed to the Word of God and the various types of terrain on which it fell as the various types of people who heard the Word.  But Jim asked us to consider the parable from the standpoint of God – the Sower.  He scatters the seed with wild abandon, in all directions, on all types of soil, terrain and conditions.  And that is how God’s grace is – extravagant, poured out with joy in faithfulness and steadfast love for us. God calls us to join him in that same spirit of grace and love – to a ministry of generosity through which we accomplish his purpose.

So we must give in that same spirit – not grudgingly – not holding on to even one string, but in the realization that we are not giving what is ours, but sharing that which comes from God.  That is the way to God’s Kingdom come on earth.