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The “Right Way,” The “Right Time”
One of the hardest things we may be called to in this lifetime is give away that which we think we need. It’s a completely different mindset – otherworldly, if you will. It says I will give away my present needs in faith for a future harvest that will supply even more needs. We understand this concept as it relates to farming and even investing, but that doesn’t make the sacrifice easy.
How do we know the right way to invest for the future, the right time to simply stand in our provision or even the right strategy to boldly change the economic cycle of our lives? What is the right way to go about drastically changing the pattern of your finances?
Where All True Wealth Begins
If you’ve been following us for the past couple weeks you know we’ve been journeying through Kris Valotton’s Book, Poverty, Riches & Wealth. If you’re joining us now, check out our last couple posts via the links below:
- Riches Cannot Be Intrinsically Evil
- The Financial Fatality of Unworthiness
- Where All True Wealth Begins
And in the most recent post in this series, Where All True Wealth Begins, we reviewed how all wealth generations start and end with your choice to give (or not). This week we’re looking at what wisdom in giving looks like and how to navigate those gray areas that we all seem to find ourselves in so frequently.
Sacrificing Today’s Comfort for Tomorrow’s Prosperity
In the second half of Chapter 3 of Poverty, Riches, & Wealth, Kris Vallotton brings Psalm 126 up for discussion.
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
– Psalm 126:5-6
He then provides a seemingly very definitive interpretation:
“I believe the psalmist is telling the story of someone who needs the very seed he is sowing to feed his children; that is why he is sowing the seed with tears. But he understands that if he does not sow seed when he is broke, then he will have no crop the next season. He knows that he would be destining himself to poverty, since without a crop he would have no income.”
Kris Vallotton, Poverty, Riches, & Wealth
Beth Moore addressed this very concept when she journeyed to Angola and was confronted with mass starvation. These villages were given seed at various times in attempts to combat the hunger problem. An Angolan friend she met named Isak Pretorius said this, “One of the most frustrating things is that in villages where they receive seed, they often eat the seed rather than planting it and bringing forth the harvest.”
Moore’s direct application was eating the seed of God’s word and never sowing it, therefore never producing a harvest and remaining in captivity. However, I think this also has huge implications for our financial life as well. Kris Vallotton interprets this in the following two quotes:
“In order to change the economic level of your life, you have to give when you are in need, when it is inconvenient, and when you don’t feel like it.”
– Kris Vallotton, Poverty, Riches & Wealth
“The more seed you plant, the more you harvest, and the more you harvest, the more seed you have to plant. Soon you will have broken the life cycle of poverty by sacrificing today’s comfort for tomorrow’s prosperity.”
– Kris Vallotton, Poverty, Riches & Wealth
Wise Stewardship
While we firmly agree with the two statements above, there’s definitely more application to this concept than just sow (all the time) in need, and in lack don’t feed your family, because the more you sow the more you reap.
2 Corinthians 9:10 says the following:
“This generous God who supplies abundant seed for the farmer, which becomes bread for our meals, is even more extravagant toward you. First he supplies every need, plus more. Then he multiplies the seed as you sow it, so that the harvest of your generosity will grow.”
2 Corinthians 9:10, The Passion Translation
And in the same vein, Isaiah addresses this in the following:
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:10-11, New King James Version
God often uses practical, natural laws to describe and exemplify spiritual truths. So in the same way the seed becomes bread when sown and harvested and produces even more seed to be planted for more harvest the next year, so the Word of God produces righteousness, generosity and kingdom expansion when sown into the hearts of fertile soil. This too, produces even more harvest of souls into the kingdom for the following year.
The nuance we are addressing here is the wise stewardship of your harvest. “Sacrificing today’s comfort for tomorrow’s prosperity” doesn’t always look like going hungry. It doesn’t always look like giving away 85% percent of your mortgage that month because you don’t have enough to pay it in full. It doesn’t always look like giving it all away to get more the following season.
Most of us reading this will not be in the famine situation that psalmist was who had no crop to feed his children and thus, needed to sow nearly all his seed to ensure a future harvest. You will get to a point in your provision when you have seed to sow and bread to eat. Just as Paul told the Corinthians, FIRST our extravagant God supplies our EVERY NEED (plus more), and THEN he multiplies the seed as we sow it. There is a definite emphasis on supplying our every need. It’s our job to let Holy Spirit search our hearts and guide in our needs, our wants, His timing and His provision.
As we increase in God’s favor and the economic cycle of our lives changes from poverty to prosperity, we must be diligent to steward that favor well. Part of that stewardship is wisdom in providing for yourself and your family. If you and your family are not well taken care of, how then can you expand your tent pegs to steward others well?
The Only Way to Good Stewardship
Thus, our point in all of this is that the only way to good stewardship is to be in constant relationship with God. He will lead and guide you in all decisions you want to make and at a certain point He may very well say, “Daughter (or Son), I trust you to make this decision on your own.” We cannot break down each and every financial choice you may be called to make, but Holy Spirit knows exactly what you need, where your heart is and what is coming in your future harvest.
What questions do you have about good stewardship in your finances? Where are you struggling with knowing what seed is for sowing and which is for eating?
Also be sure to check out our post on Taking Action Against Fear in Finances to learn about giving in response to the spirit of fear. If you’re struggling with financial debt in your life be sure to read A New Perspective on Debt as well.
