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 enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 2 Corinthians 9:10-12
“Every man who becomes heartily and understandingly a channel of divine beneficence is enriched through every league of his life. Perennial satisfaction springs around and within him with perennial verdure. Flowers of gratitude and gladness bloom along his pathway, and the melodies gurgle of the blessings he bears is echoed back by the melodious waves of the recipient stream.”
Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881) American novelist and poet recounted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, 1895) 26.
Holland paints a rich picture of the generous person and the impact he or she has as a conduit of divine blessings. Most graphic to me are his words that describe this giver: heartily and understandingly.
To give “heartily and understandingly” is to realize that our purpose on earth is not to serve ourself but to serve God and others. We fulfill that purpose by being a channel of blessing wherever we go.
The result is “perennial satisfaction” for those who choose this pathway. What a vivid term, especially linked to flowers. This means that perpetual sprouts and blooms happen as a result of generous living.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that enrichment for generosity comes to those who see themselves as sowers of God’s blessings. We only figure it out as we live it out. And through this service God is praised.
Father, make channels of blessing. Empower us to serve heartily and understandingly (and especially work through my wife, Jenni, as she serves in Guatemala this week). In your mercy, hear this humble prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.