There is one who scatters, yet increases all the more, And there is one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want (Proverbs 11:24).
There were certain fields my father used to sow by hand. He would strap on a canvas contraption--something like a kangaroo pouch--with a Burpee seed logo on the front, fill it with seed and go out to sow. He would throw seed everywhere--throw it away it would seem.
The procedure is millennia old. Until recent years it was the only way to sow. It's this process the Wise Man had in mind.
When a farmer sows seed in the ground it looks like he's throwing it away. He scatters it and cannot gather it up again. He gives up its control and the use of it. It's irretrievable, lost to him.
But it isn't really lost. In due time he gets it back again and much more besides.
If we sow little, that's what we'll get back. If we sow abundantly, we'll always have an abundance to give. Jesus stated that paradox again and again: if we try to save ourselves, he said, we will lose ourselves; if we lose ourselves for his sake, we'll save ourselves in the end. It was one of his favorite sayings. He must have meant it.
This means we must measure our lives by losses rather than gains; by sacrifices rather than self-preservation; by time spent for others rather than time saved for ourselves; by love poured out rather than love poured in. It's a rule of life: give away the truth that God has given to you and he will give you greater truths for yourself and for others. Give your time away and you'll have more time to give. Set no limit on your love and you'll find in the act of loving that you have more love for others than ever before.
"Remember this," Paul writes, "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever." 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 9:6-11).
"There is one who scatters, yet increases all the more." It's oldest paradox in the world.
DR
6/21/96