Most of us are all too familiar with working for a paycheck. We invest 40 hours a week into someone’s business or endeavor in order to be compensated. What we do with that money is really a reflection of what we think of ourselves and our families. Some may squander their pay, others may hoard it and others diligently do what they can to care for their families or other needs.
We should understand the responsibility of working to provide. “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” (2 Thess. 3:10) “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worsethan an unbeliever.” (1 Tim. 5:8)
But are we limited in our resources to simple compensation for our labors? Is there another dimension of blessings and resources available? Paul reveals an incredible promise that can turn our compensation into multiplication. “Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness” (2 Cor. 9:10).
First, we must recognize that even our compensation comes from God. Our job is simply the channel through which God supplies our needs. However, God does not only supply bread for food, but also seed for the sower. Herein lies the secret of abundance! How we ‘see’ our compensation (bread for food) has everything to do with our potential for multiplication. “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen aretemporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:18)
If we can open our spiritual eyes and ‘see’ our compensation as more than bread, but also as seed, we can begin to walk in the abundance that God has made available. What we sow into others and into the gospel is seed. Every seed contains a potential harvest. God gives the increase. It is God’s way of lifting us up from the limitations of natural life and propelling us into the multiplication of blessings.
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Cor. 9:8)