II Corinthians 9-12

What are you when no one is looking?

This past week was the first time in many years that spring breaks aligned for Union and Cabarrus counties. It afforded us the opportunity to take our 11th and 12th grade mission trip over the Easter break – and what an awesome time it was! When we left Charlotte it was chilly, drab and grey. However, when we returned at the end of our trip an explosion of green had taken over the city. Spring had sprung, God’s beauty abounded. Looking down from the plane as we approached home was a breathtaking experience. What was once drab and grey in just a few short days had been transformed into something warm, beautiful and vibrant.

In 2 Corinthians 9-12 Paul is talking to the church about their support (financially) for the work of God. He is also talking to them about their character (who they are in Paul’s absence). I love the metaphor that Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7. It is apropos for the season we are in and my life. It reads:

(2 Cor 9:6-7 NIV) Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. {7} Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Paul uses this concept also in Galatians when he says in chapter 6 and verse 7 “A man reaps what he sows.”

When you look at the lawns of Charlotte, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know who has taken time to and money to aerate, seed, and fertilize their yard in the fall. It shows up in the spring time – right?

Well, not always, what if you didn’t have the time or the money to fertilize in the fall, as was my case last year. Your yard should look drab, grey and be full of a lot of weeds – right?

Mine should, but it doesn’t! Why, because while I was out of town on an earlier mission trip to Haiti someone CHEERFULLY showed up and applied weed and feed to my lawn!

I did not have the money, but someone else did. I didn’t have the time, but someone else CHEERULLY gave it. While I wasn’t looking someone gave (the very definition of character)! When we serve others, they reap what they did not sow! Isn’t that the grace I receive everyday from Christ? His grace given on the cross affords me reapings, that I did not sow!


Brad Childers
April 27