“Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given to the churches in Macedonia. They have suffered a great deal. But their joy was more than full. Even though they were very poor, they gave very freely. I give witness that they gave as much as they could. In fact, they gave even more than they could. Completely on their own, they begged us for the chance to share in serving God's people in that way. They did more than we expected. First they gave themselves to the Lord. Then they gave themselves to us in keeping with what God wanted. Titus had already started collecting money from you. So we asked him to get you to finish making your kind gift. You do well in everything else. You do well in faith and in speaking. You do well in knowledge and in complete commitment. And you do well in your love for us. So make sure that you also do well in the grace of giving to others. I am not commanding you to do it. But I want to put you to the test. I want to find out if you really love God. I want to compare your love with that of others. You know the grace shown by our Lord Jesus Christ. Even though he was rich, he became poor to help you. Because he became poor, you can become rich. Here is my advice about what is best for you in that matter. Last year you were the first to give. You were also the first to want to give. So finish the work. Then your longing to do it will be matched by your finishing it. Give on the basis of what you have. Do you really want to give? Then the gift is received in keeping with what you have, not with what you don't have. We don't want others to have it easy at your expense. We want things to be equal. Right now you have plenty in order to take care of what they need. Then they will have plenty to take care of what you need. That will make things equal.” (2 Corinthians 8:1-14 NIrV)
What a time we are living in today! Do you have A SENSE OF URGENCY? Can you feel the necessity to be sure everyone you know has a chance to know the Savior? Do feel the burden to point out the differences between what God says and what the world is expressing as acceptable? Are you feeling the desire to point out that there is a disjoint between what some Christians are saying and what God has put in writing? There is one way to be sure the Truth is getting out. We must support the work that God is initiating within His foot soldiers and do our best to join the army!
Paul is very clear in the message to the Corinthian church (and to us). The Macedonians were poor and destitute yet they jumped at the chance to give to those in need in Jerusalem. Key to their financial giving was the fact that they had already given themselves over to the Lord’s use. Just as Jesus gave up His stature in heaven to sacrifice for us, we need to selflessly lay aside our comforts for the needs of others. We can’t keep wanting what is ours when others are in need of the basics of life.
In these challenging days, the Christian should be known by His unselfish giving. We should give ourselves totally to God, look for needs of others, follow Christ’s example of unselfish living, and trust God to care for us as we care for others. It’s not the size of our gifts, but our attitude in giving. We can’t stop giving to others and expect God to provide for us. It just doesn’t work that way! We live in a very unique time: giving is living. I feel A SENSE OF URGENCY!
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