So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work (2 Cor. 9:5-8).How many times have we heard that? It usually comes up in the context of a question something like this: "Do Christians have to tithe?" "Oh," we are kindly assured, "that's an Old Testament thing. No, no, you give what the Lord leads you to give. You know, 'the Lord loves a cheerful giver.'" It is an excuse, a reason not to give. I find it astounding. If we are sinners, with sins forgiven, it would seem that we should love much. It would seem that, instead of an excuse not to give, we would want to work really, really hard at becoming a cheerful giver.
In Paul's day, the churches in Macedonia were extremely poor. The area was overrun multiple times by competing armies. Still, Paul says, "We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part" (2 Cor. 8:1-2). Even with their "extreme poverty", they begged Paul to be able to contribute to the needs of other Christians. Paul uses them as an example for the richer Corinthian church. "As you excel in everything -- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you -- see that you excel in this act of grace also" (2 Cor. 8:7).
There is no richer country on the Earth than the United States. If you make more than $1500 a year, you make more than 85% of the world. Now, rich, of course, is a relative term. No one, for instance, could survive in this country on $1500 a year. The call is not to do so. But to deny that we are rich by trying to pass it off to the Bill Gateses and big oil company tycoons is to ignore the obvious. We've bought a lie. We Christians in America actually believe that 2 TVs, 2 cars, microwave, video game, a couple of computers, yearly vacations, cable and high-speed Internet are needs, not excess. We've been bitten by the Cash Cow. We've pointed too long at those "evil rich", forgetting that we're among them. ("Thank you, God, that I am not like those rich.")
So, like Paul, I'd like to ask you to consider this. You are rich. Even those in "extreme poverty" excelled at giving. I would like to call on you, the rich in this world, to consider excelling at the act of grace that we call "giving". I would urge you to consider moving into the realm of that which God loves and become a cheerful giver.
1 comment:
Amen, Stan! We have a very self-indulgent, self-serving, attitude in this day I think. We have never had it so good, and yet, we seem very unwilling to give if it will take the least anything, time, money, incovenience, or a dozen other things. A cheeful giver as you rightly say is the key. If someone is on the recieving end from a resentful giver, it will cause that reciver much discomfort.
And as well as money, there are other ways we can give too. In time, and other self-denying ways. Rather than siting down to indulge ourselves in the good things the Lord has given us, let's as you say, give back to Him and His kingdom,whenever and wherever we may do so. The blood of Christ is of inestimable worth, and yet we are willing to part with so little very often when it comes down to it. And if we do, very often, only because we feel obliged to rather than out of an free cheeful willing heart.
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