THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF ‘SOWING A SEED’ FOR GOD’S BLESSING

Again and again we hear pastors in church and on radio/TV make calls for their audience to come and sow a seed to tap a blessing or provoke God to intervene in their situation. I have also seen that many times when we are giving offering in church or making donations to support God’s work, some pastors insist that we tie our giving to a need we have or material blessing we desire.

As I observed this, many questions popped up on my mind. Is it right to say I should tie my giving to a material need I have?. Do I need to give a pastor/ church my materials resources to activate God’s intervention in my seemly hopeless situation?

What I want to share with you today is what I find as the answers to these questions.

I have always believed in sowing seed and the fact that life is a matter of seed time and harvest. That was what informed my article, Seed for Your Future. But today, I want to talk about seed as has become popular in many churches today.

Power of Giving

First, point I want to make clear on this subject is the fact that there is power in giving. Jesus Christ said that if we give it shall be given unto us good measures pressed down and running over. In another occasion, He said that it’s more blessed to give than to receive. This principle is a natural truth of life which works automatically. That’s why I believe that true givers never lack. If you look at the life of the Widow of Zarapahat, Peter the fisher man and one childless woman in the old testament, you will see the power of the manifestation of true giving.

So, it’s true they tell us when they say that if we give we shall receive.

Giving to Provoke Blessing

Is it right to say that I should give material things to God to activate His blessing in my life or situation? NO!

You know why?

Jesus Christ, while talking to his disciples, which we are, said, “Whatever you ask my father in my name, I will do it for you.” In another instance, He said, “Ask and you shall receive…” With all these provisions made for us to get what we want from God and call for his intervention and for the release of His blessings in our lives, I don’t know why someone will tell us that we need to sow a seed to activate His blessing or gain his intervention in our difficult situation.

The point I am making is that there is not Biblical teaching that encourages us to give materials gifts as a way of getting God’s blessing or provoking the release of his breakthrough in our lives. None!

Jazez was a man in critical condition. He was kind of cursed. He was headed for doom. To get breakthrough and a turnaround for his life, he did a very simple thing – pray to God. He said, “O that you bless me in deed.” God gave Abraham a child not for any seed. It was simply a fulfillment of His promise to him after he has walked before God and became perfect.

I am not aware of any miracle Jesus performed in the lives of the people in His days that was provoked by a seed.

I can’t see how we claim that Solomon’s giving is what provoked God’s blessings for him. His giving could have. It’s easy for people trying to support their practice reason that way due to the proximity of the event. But I don’t believe any ma’s giving can really provoke God. Is He not the on that told his people not to offer Him their materials resources but live right?

God is not a politician, your head of department or a typical Nigerian civil servant who won’t do his work until his is provoked with lunch money. It’s an insult on Him to think he can be provoked to action by such things.

If at all anybody’s giving provoked Him, know that it’s not the material but a spirit. Abraham didn’t to give God Issac; gave has Him total trust. He gave God unshakeable trust. The childless woman gave honour for the man of God.

Many proponents of this heresy of giving to God to activate his blessings convince their followers to do it by misinterpreting the principle of Divine Intervention in the lives of people like the Widow of Zarapaphet and the childless woman.

Please take a break and think for a while: if seed is enough to provoke God to do something for man, then it’s the wealthy people that can provoke the greatest amount of blessing. But we know that it’s not possible!

Coming to the realities of our new creation in Christ Jesus, we know that in Christ, God has given us all that pertains to life and godliness. We take delivery of them by asking God for it in the name of Jesus Christ. Not by any seed!

The True Giver

Earlier I pointed out some examples of people who experienced God’s intervention in when they gave. They are true givers!

Who is a true giver? He is one who gives as God would give. How does God give? In John 3:16, the Bible says that God gave His only son (not because of what he will get but) so that whoever believes in him will not perish but get eternal life.

True Christians don’t give to charity, church or ministers to tap anything or provoke God. They give because of what the receiver will get. They give to indigent student not for the publicity of being a philanthropist but so that the student will go to school. They give to their pastors not to tap anything but as an honour to him as a man of God. True givers give girls who they are not even contemplating proposing to. True givers give to you and don’t look to you for any blessing or remembrance in future.

Get this clear, Peter didn’t give his boat for what he was going to get. He gave it out because a guy (I mean Jesus) has a need for it. The Childless woman that built a lodge for the man of God didn’t do it to activate the promise of child bearing. She didn’t it because she realised that it will be useful to the man of God.  What they got was a natural consequence of true giving.

Many Christians today are not true givers. They give as an expression of their greed. They give because of their selfish desires. They don’t give primarily for what the receiver will get but what they will get.

Brethren, if you still give for primarily for what you will get, you are not a bad person. Juts that you have imbibed selfishness. Juts repent today and choose the path of selfless giving which God our father and Jesus Christ our savior has modeled for us.