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4th March 2026
WednesdayReflection
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'John Piper'
is founder and teacher of Desiring God.org
"He Who Sows Bountifully Will Reap Bountifully"
.... 2 Corinthians 9:6-14
My aim here is mainly to help us to think and feel about our giving, the way God wants us to, so that every gift is as spiritual and God-centered as this passage is.
Notice first that in verses 5, 6, and 7 two kinds of giving are contrasted.
● Verse 5:
"So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren to go on to you before me, and arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so that it may be ready not as an exaction but as a willing gift." (Literally: "not as covetousness but as blessing.")
● Verse 6:
"The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." (Don't give sparingly; give bountifully, generously.)
● Verse 7:
"Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (Don't give begrudgingly; give freely and cheerfully.)
Three descriptions of how not to give, and three descriptions of how to give:
● verse 5, NOT as an exaction or covetously;
● verse 6, NOT sparingly;
● verse 7, NOT reluctantly or begrudgingly.
BUT,
● verse 5, as a willing gift;
● verse 6, bountifully;
● verse 7, cheerfully.
Let's think for a moment about bad giving.
In each of these three descriptions the essence of what's wrong is the desire to hold back.
There is giving!
But it's coming from a heart that wants to hold back.
Take the word "sparingly," for example, in verse 6.
If I say, "Spare my life!" I mean, let me keep it; don't take it from me.
If I say, "Spare no effort!" I mean, hold back no effort.
Give all the effort you can!
When Paul said, "God did not spare his only Son," he meant,
God did not hold him back. He didn't keep just for himself. He shared him.
So, to give sparingly is to give from a heart that deep inside wants to hold back.
There are enough external constraints and pressures to make us give something.
But the real feeling of our heart is not to think of how much we can give, but how much we can keep.
That's how not to give.
Take the positive side now.
In verse 6 the word is "bountifully."
In the Greek it's the same word as the one used in verse 5.
Literally, it means give on the basis of blessing.
Our giving should rest upon the great truth that God is a bountifully blessing God, and then our gift in turn should be a bountiful blessing to others.
Verse 7 says, it should be "cheerful."
So giving bountifully means giving from a heart that wants to share things.
Something has happened in the heart so that the basic desire is now to give and share as much as possible instead of keep as much as possible.
It's as though there was a magnet in the soul that used to be turned so that it pulled possessions into itself;
and now something has happened to turn it around to the other pole so that it pushes things out toward others.
That leads us to ask, what makes the difference between these two kinds of hearts - the sparing heart, and the bountiful heart?
I would answer like this, and then we will see it from the text as we read on.
The sparing heart has a relationship to God that feels him as a Taker rather than a Giver.
If my life is being drained away by God because he is so incessantly and solely demanding, then I feel like grasping after the things of the world to meet my need.
If every time I look up I see the pointing finger of God demanding, "Give me! Give me! Give me!" how can I look back down at the needs of the world and say "Take me: I will gladly spend and be spent for your good"?
O this person will give something!
Because one of the draining demands that he hears when he looks to this ever-demanding, ever-taking God is: "Give something to the church!"
So out comes the gift - the draining, life depleting, exhausting, sparing gift.
But what a difference between this gift and the gift that flows from the heart that has a relationship with God that feels him as a Giver rather than a Taker!
Beneath the bountiful giving of verse 6 and the cheerful giving of verse 7 is a heart that looks up to God and sees a Giver, a Supplier, a Helper.
When this person looks to God, he feels replenished not drained.
Just like the literal translation of verse 6 implies, his giving is based on blessing - God's blessing.
What makes the difference, then, between the sparing giver and the bountiful giver is their relation to God.
For one he is an incessantly demanding, draining Taker.
For the other he is an inexhaustible Giver.
><(((°>
This is an edited version.
The full article is avaiable on request
John Piper
is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary.
For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God:
Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning: Education in Serious Joy
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