When I was a kid, my parents had a half-acre garden with lots of vegetables, but in one area, there were a few watermelons they had sowed sparingly. Every summer, my mom would tell the four Heitzig boys, "Go outside to eat that watermelon. You'll make a mess inside." So we'd go outside, eat our watermelon, and spit the seeds over the fence. We sowed bountifully. And the next year, a whole bunch more watermelons came out.

In 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul said, "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (9:6). That's a law of nature. A farmer, if he has a little bit of seed, can expect a little outcome. If he has a lot of seed and puts a lot of work into it, he can expect a greater outcome.

Sow sparingly; reap sparingly. Sow bountifully; reap bountifully. This is as much a spiritual law as it is a physical law. It's found in the Old Testament and in the words of Jesus in Luke 6:38: "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom."

It doesn't make sense when we hear it. "If I give, I'll actually receive more? No, that doesn't sound logical. The more I give, the less I have!" But you can never out-give God. That's what Jesus was saying. God will make a way to get it back to you somehow—"good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." This concept is also found in Proverbs 3:9-10, Proverbs 11:24-25, and Luke 6.

Paul continued in 2 Corinthians, "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver" (9:7). You can be a sad giver: "grudgingly." You can be a mad giver: "of necessity." Or you can be a glad giver: "God loves a cheerful giver."

I want to make one more point. In Exodus 25:1, "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.'" This was for the building of the tabernacle. The idea of a willing heart is repeated in Exodus 35:5, 20-21, 29.

There are four ways you can give: out of duty because you have to, to get a feeling of self-satisfaction, or for prestige—to show others what a generous person you are. The fourth way is out of love, not obligation, as an opportunity to show your love for God and to be involved in what He is doing.

When Paul said, "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15), it was a reminder to us that God's greatest gift to us is Jesus. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). When you love someone, you give. God gave His best. That's His style, and it should be ours as well. After all, we are just stewards of the blessings we have received from Him.