⁶ Remember this: The one who plants few seeds will have a small harvest. But the one who plants a lot will have a big harvest. ⁷ Each one of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give. You should not give if it makes you unhappy or if you feel forced to give. God loves those who are happy to give. ⁸ And God can give you more blessings than you need, and you will always have plenty of everything. You will have enough to give to every good work. ⁹ As the Scriptures say,

¹⁰ God is the one who gives seed to those who plant, and he gives bread for food. And God will give you spiritual seed and make that seed grow. He will produce a great harvest from your goodness. ¹¹ God will make you rich in every way so that you can always give freely. And your giving through us will make people give thanks to God.

¹² The service you are offering helps God’s people with their needs, but that is not all it does. It is also bringing more and more thanks to God. ¹³ This service is a proof of your faith, and people will praise God because of it. They will praise God that you freely share what you have with them and with all people. They will praise him to see you following the Good News about Christ that you openly accepted. They will praise God because you freely share with them and with all people. ¹⁴ And when they pray, they will wish they could be with you. They will feel this way because of the great grace that God gave you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful to describe.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has given us every spiritual blessing in heaven. ⁴ In Christ, he chose us before the world was made. He chose us in love to be his holy people—people who could stand before him without any fault. ⁵ And before the world was made, God decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ. This was what God wanted, and it pleased him to do it. ⁶ And this brings praise to God because of his wonderful grace. God gave that grace to us freely. He gave us that grace in Christ, the one he loves.

⁷ In Christ we are made free by his blood sacrifice. We have forgiveness of sins because of God’s rich grace. ⁸ God gave us that grace fully and freely. With full wisdom and understanding

God Has Given Us Everything We Need

³ Jesus has the power of God. And his power has given us everything we need to live a life devoted to God. We have these things because we know him. Jesus chose us by his glory and goodness, ⁴ through which he also gave us the very great and rich gifts that he promised us. With these gifts you can share in being like God. And so you will escape the ruin that comes to people in the world because of the evil things they want.

⁵ Because you have these blessings, do all you can to add to your life these things: to your faith add goodness; to your goodness add knowledge; ⁶ to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add patience; to your patience add devotion to God; ⁷ to your devotion add kindness toward your brothers and sisters in Christ, and to this kindness add love. ⁸ If all these things are in you and growing, you will never fail to be useful to God. You will produce the kind of fruit that should come from your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.