A Full Barn

Proverbs 3:9,10

One of Lincoln’s real treasures is the Sunken Garden at 27th and Capital Parkway. It offers a magnificent display of colors and textures and ponds and paths. It’s beautiful. However, I have a secret that you must promise not to tell. It is highly likely that no one in Lincoln has been kicked out of that garden more times than me. 

“What?” you say, “Was I preaching in there too loud? Was I so fervent in prayer I was disturbing the visitors?” Not exactly. I grew up just down the street from the gardens. In those days it was mostly neglected, nothing like it is today. Often the neighborhood kids would gather there to play tag or hide and seek. On many occasions someone showed up and yelled at us. “You kids get out of that pond, and I don’t ever want to see you in there again.” Something like that.

Flower gardens are beautiful. Patti has one at home. It’s amazing that so much beauty and color can emerge from a handful of seeds. Let’s imagine she puts me in charge of dutifully watering the garden every day. Every day I make sure it’s watered just right. Day after day I do my job, but nothing happens. I keep waiting for that magic moment when the plant breaks free from the soil and emerges into the sunlight. But strangely, that moment never arrives. 

I do some investigating and learn that Patti didn’t want to lose all her seeds, so she chose not to put them in the ground. They were safely still in their packets in a drawer in the kitchen. Yes, she kept those seeds safe but that meant there would be no flowers. What if when I tried to explain why there were no flowers to her, she got mad and told me the reason there were no flowers was because I hadn’t watered correctly. Yikes!

Now of course that is a ridiculous story. If you don’t plant the seed, there will be no flower. You have to sow to reap. We know that, right. Yet, often we hold on so tightly to what we have as if we believe if we sow it, we lose it. Then when the flowers don’t grow, we feel like God has been unfair to us or accuse Him of not caring. 

Proverbs says, honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. It’s the simple principle of sowing and reaping. 

Paul wrote the same thing to the Corinthians about being generous with their money. Now he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully (II Cor. 9:6). No seeds, no flowers.

Perhaps some of this makes us uncomfortable because the prosperity preachers have misused this concept for personal gain. There’s no shortage of preachers and ministries promising you that if you sow a seed with them God will fill your bank account many times over. In other words, you give to get. It’s a good deal. 

Obviously, that’s not the idea. The Proverb says our motive should be to honor the LORD with our wealth, it’s an act of worship. It’s about who we trust and what we value. But I think sometimes, in reaction to the prosperity message we swing the pendulum too far the other way. We seem unwilling to take God at His Word. 

God is not a minimalist. Poverty is not a virtue. He’s a generous God that fills His creation with beauty and wonder. God loves to bless us. His desire is that your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. But that requires that we honor Him. We live life as He has prescribed. We value what He values and are generous as He is generous.

Skillful living requires we honor God with what we have. The first fruits, not the leftovers. It’s not a magic formula to get rich. It’s about a path to joy. It’s about breaking lose from the selfishness that holds our culture in bondage. Full barns and overflowing vats provide the resources we need to contribute to the flourishing of the community. It’s not a recipe for stockpiling. It’s a pathway to generosity for the benefit of all. We are never more like God than when we give. God loves a cheerful giver (II Cor. 9:7).

Flower gardens are places of beauty and wonder, but you have to plant the seeds to have the garden. That’s just the way it works. The more you clutch and hold on to what you have the more likely the barns will be empty and the vats will dry up. Maybe it’s counter intuitive but you have to give to receive.  That’s how skillful living works.