Empty Hands, Lack of Sowing

"Empty Hands, Lack of Sowing" – 2 Corinthians 9:6 Hands are empty because they are supposed to have calluses from sowing. The one who sows develops calluses that give him strength to keep sowing, and from that sowing comes the food for the house. Everyone always has a harvest: in the natural it is food, and in the sowing of the Word of God there will also be a harvest. If we do not sow, we can never expect a harvest. The Bible presents this principle both in the material and in the spiritual: in life everything depends on your sowing, and you are according to your sowing. Life is one, and it is not about enjoying it until the party is over; life is how you fight for it, and how you do your sowing.

I. He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully (2 Corinthians 9:6).

A. The human being exists to bear fruit.

1. What is yours is in no one else's hands; what is yours, God holds in His hands. Each one has his harvest according to what heaven selects.

2. Examine yourself and see where you serve in God. It is not about a job or works of charity, which anyone can do, but about what hurts: losing a night's sleep, walking a long way, giving much, pouring yourself out.

3. The sheep does not understand the message while it is being preached; it learns afterward, at home, asking "God, reveal to me where I have not labored." There the back is bowed with a meek spirit and one walks in tenderness upon the earth.

4. Time spent on common and ordinary duties has no reward for eternity. With empty hands there is no right to give opinions, make suggestions, or criticize Peter or John; our lives are sad when we are not able to have a sowing.

B. If we sow little, we reap little.

1. A small handful of seed yields a small harvest, and that sowing has to last the whole year. First the sowing and then the harvest: be calm before spending what has not yet multiplied.

2. There are bad seasons: drought, the worm that eats the grain, wind that strips the tree. That is why one must multiply, never have empty hands, and always be able to reproduce.

3. All your fruit is revealed by your sowing. He who sows flesh reaps anger and strife, and that is a loss: God is not there, the angels leave, the Holy Spirit leaves, and demons come in. Whoever gives place to Satan cannot say that nothing happens.

4. Little sowing in the children: criticizing them and telling them "you are good for nothing" is a law that raises rebellion against everything pure. All children are to be treated equally, and discipline is applied with love, not with foolishness.

5. Scarcity shows when the problem comes: there is no strength, no wisdom, no accumulated prayer, no Word in one's being. Wise men and women know the Holy Scriptures and know that the Holy Spirit must be in their lives.

6. Where there is no sowing, thorns come up, and ants rot the root without anyone noticing. Lack of sowing leaves the hands empty in the family, in finances, and in many other things.

C. He who sows bountifully shall reap bountifully.

1. The one who gives, the one who serves, the one who does the work of God with a willing heart, is sowing abundantly. It is the law of sowing: give, and it shall be given unto you.

2. God blesses the cheerful giver. If your mother asks you for twenty dollars, do not say you have none: go to the bank and give them to her as a gift, because if she had to ask you, it is because she needs them.

3. In finances, do not spend before sowing and do not borrow money. The first month even the piggy bank is emptied; the second month there is nowhere left to draw from. Put away childishness, for time passes, and what you laugh at today may be tomorrow's sorrow.

II. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7).

A. We must not think that our decisions will have no consequences.

1. Acquire wisdom and knowledge; send it to the mind in good faith and it will descend to the heart. When it fills your whole being, there begins the action of no longer wanting to be an empty person.

2. God knows what we do and also the intention of the heart. Withholding the tithe because it is convenient to keep it in the bank that week is an intention that God sees; a church with greed is bankrupt and will not prosper.

3. Every action, every word, every service, and every decision is like a seed, and this too shall be seen. The kind of seed determines the kind of harvest.

4. The example of the one who serves without regard to whom, with a tired body and a heart willing to sow: that is the art, and in due time she will reap much, she will be steady, and she will see the hand of God in her favor.

III. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy (Psalm 126:5).

A. They sowed with effort, surrender, and perseverance, even in the midst of pain, difficulty, and weariness.

1. The tears of sowing will not be the end of the story; the time to reap with joy will come. There are seeds that are watered with tears, and blessed are those tears.

2. God can turn the time of weeping into a time of harvest, of well-being, into a time when nothing is lacking and the soul is at peace.

3. Sowing is passed on to the next generation: teaching children and grandchildren to tithe from what they receive. What the Word says is what it is, period; it is not negotiated or debated.

4. He who robs the tithes is a thief. What saves is not going in and out of church, but what the Word produces in you: repentance. The heart cries out "do good"; do not take it for idle talk.

5. The harvest is a law, and like every law it is fulfilled: breaking it brings consequences, pain, and empty hands. Honor your parents; do not harden yourself against the mother who asks of you while you eat the little she has in her refrigerator.

IV. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Galatians 6:9).

A. The spiritual principle of the harvest.

1. Many grow weary of being good. We are vain mortals: today we seem like wild beasts and by morning we say "it was not such a big deal"; there a weariness has already shown

itself. Let us not be able to grow weary of doing good.

2. Three steps: sow, wait, and persevere. Nothing you sow comes up quickly; there is a time between sowing and reaping, and in the waiting comes the temptation to say "I should not have done it."

3. The harvest always comes. There is no need to run after it like a madman; the harvest makes itself present and says "here I am" when scarcity is no longer in your life.

4. I cannot expect a harvest where I never sowed, nor ask and draw where there was no sowing; but neither should I abandon a good sowing because I do not yet see the fruit.

5. Tears should be ours; weep all you want. The righteous is happy, does not flare up like a match, is not moved by betrayals, and his direction is always forward.

B. Conclusion: learning from the Word.

1. The Word makes us brilliant, exquisite human beings. Heaven knows that on the earth there are men, women, young people, and children who love God with all their strength and have set themselves apart to live according to what He wants.

2. Let us care for our soul. Let each one examine himself before the Lord's Supper, and see whether he is a doer of what the Scripture teaches; being a member of the church is not attending for a season, but fulfilling all that the righteous fulfill (1 Corinthians 11:28). Amen.