Welcome to the third week of our message series, “The Harvest Principle.” The principle, which comes from farming, is “you reap what you sow.” If you plant corn seeds, and it gets the proper amount of water and sun, you are going to get corn. We have been discussing that this is true in life in general, and not just in farming. Everything that we sow in life will yield something for ourselves or for someone else.

We have also mentioned that there are two corollaries to this general principle. First, “you reap what you sow, but it is always later.” We do not always see the consequences of our actions right away. Often it is years down the road before we begin to reap what we sowed during our youth. Second, “you reap what you sow, but it’s always greater.” Over time, the sowing and reaping effect multiplies. The more you sow, the more you will reap; whether it is for good or for ill.

This week we are going to look at how the Harvest Principle applies to our finances because it turns out that we reap what we sow when it comes to our money. You might be sighing, “Oh no! Another money talk.” Well, yes, sort of but it really should not be surprising. There are over 2500 verses in the Bible on how to handle money and possessions. Everything we need to know about money can be found in the Bible. It tells us how to spend, save, give, and manage money.

To come to grip on how the Harvest Principle applies to our finances, we are going to look at today’s first reading from the First Book of Kings. First a little background. Both the first and second book of Kings tells us the stories of all the kings of Israel. Under King David and his son, Solomon, the twelve tribes of Israel were united in a single kingdom. However, after Solomon died, conflict erupted and the kingdom was split; ten tribes in the north formed the Kingdom of Israel, and two tribes in the south formed the Kingdom of Judah.

Today’s first reading takes place in the Northern Kingdom, who was being ruled by a corrupt king named Ahab. He led the people of Israel into the worship of false gods. God sends the prophet Elijah to challenge King Ahab. Just as Elijah predicted, a drought begins that will last three years; a consequence of the people’s sin. Challenging a king can be dangerous, so God gave Elijah an exit strategy. He told Elijah to go to the town of Zarephath where a widow would provide him safety, shelter and food. This was rather unusual because in that culture, widows were typically very poor.

As we hear in today’s first reading, as Elijah is entering the town he sees a widow (they wore a distinctive dress then), and he asks her to bring him a cup of water. This was a small test, to see if she would be willing to help him, indicating that she was the widow the Lord promised would help him. As she leaves to get the water, Elijah expands the request, “Please bring along a bit of bread.”

Now we learn that the widow is indeed impoverished. She tells Elijah that she only has a handful of flour and a little oil. That she was going out to collect some sticks to make a fire, and after she used the last of her flour and oil to feed herself and her son, they would then just starve to death. She does not see any other options.

Elijah gives her another option. He tells her not to be afraid. “Go and do as you propose.

But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'The jar of flour shall not go empty,

nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.” Basically Elijah is telling her to believe in the Harvest Principle; give away some of what you have now in return for the promise of all you will need moving forward.

What would you have done if Elijah told you that? I suspect that many of us would decline the invitation, especially if we were starving like the widow and her son. But she placed her faith in God, through the testimony of Elijah, and we hear, “She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well; the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the LORD had foretold through Elijah.”

There are all kinds of things that we can do with our money, however, the wisest use of money is to sow seeds with it, and there are two ways that we can do that.

The first way, the most important thing that we can do with money, the most strategic thing, is give it away because of the Harvest Principle. Christ’s followers give confident that they are gaining something. Scripture tells us over and over again that not only are we not diminished when we give but we will reap benefits in proportion to our giving. Giving is investing in our eternal future. Despite the advancement of modern medicine, the mortality rate still hovers around 100%. We are all going to die, and we know that we cannot take our money and possessions with us. However, God has promised that we can build treasure in heaven. Jesus preached this all the time, urging us to build treasure in heaven by giving to God first of all by giving to His Church and giving to the poor. The goal of our giving is to reach a sacrificial place that God has promised to bless both in the time ahead as well as right now.

The second way to win with our money is by saving and investing. While giving is sowing seeds for our eternal future, saving and investing is sowing seeds for our immediate future. How much should you save? Well, like giving, it all depends on how much you want to reap. Like giving, if you are not doing anything now, just start doing something. When it comes to money, give first, save next, and then live on the rest, spend the rest but spend within your limits.