Eating The Seed

Eating The Seed

"Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for
food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and
increase the fruit of your righteousness." II Corinthians 9:10

One of the problems in developing nations, with large numbers of people facing hunger and starvation, is "eating the seed", a reference to consuming an entire harvest to the point where nothing is saved to use for seed the following year. United Nations programs have begun to address the issue by implementing aid programs which provide, not only the necessary food, but seed to be used in sowing crops thereby enabling these nations to become more self-sufficient.

Paul wrote in the verse above about the Lord providing both seed to sow and bread to eat to the believer. The seed represents the opportunity and ability to help others, both naturally and spiritually, while the bread stands for what is needed in our own lives. And we know that the Lord is able to make us to have enough in both areas.

The question becomes "Are we sowing seed?" Are we taking what the Lord has blessed us with and sowing a portion of it into the lives of others? This can be done through charitable giving (no matter how small or large!) in which our donations are seeds to be used to relieve the suffering of others, seeds that respresent the love of Christ, seeds that will multiply and bear much fruit. It can also be done through the words we speak, sowing seeds of faith in the lives of others as we testify of the Lord's goodness and of the mercy He has shown each of us, as we share words of encouragement and hope with those who are hurting.

The next question is "Are we eating the seed?" It is possible for a Christian to be so self-centered that they consume everything they receive on themselves. And in so doing, they end up actually hurting themselves. Consider Proverbs 11:24:

"One man gives freely, yet gains even more
another withholds unduly but come to poverty"

Or as The Message Bible states:

"The world of the generous gets larger and larger,
the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller."

Seed, by nature, multiplies. A kernel of seed corn becomes hundreds of kernels of corn to supply food to the needy. A word spoken in season to the needy can be a seed of faith that multiplies many times over and bears fruit in many lives. All that the Lord blesses us with in not intended as bread to be consumed to meet our own needs; some is meant to be seed for us to sow and reap a harvest of righteousness from.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church