pramsay posted on September 26, 2006 09:31 1407 views

The Christians up in Corinth had initially expressed an enthusiastic willingness to help the believers in Jerusalem who were having a real rough time. When the Apostle Paul first mentioned it to them, they were eager and thrilled to help out. But then problems arose in the assembly in Corinth. False teachers started planting problems and rumors began to spread about Paul himself. Some hinted that Paul was up to no good and that he himself was money hungry. Who could trust his motives? Maybe he was milking the christians. Whatever was being said in Corinth certainly threw a damper on their willingness to help out the poverty stricken believers in Jerusalem. They had been side tracked by internal assembly problems and their generous gift never materialized.

That’s the background for the two chapters in 2 Corinthians that instruct believers on spiritual giving. Yes – the Holy Spirit through Paul saw fit to devote considerable space to the single topic of christian giving. Two entire chapters in 2 Corinthians deal with the subject. Here are two verses from that section:

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart,
so let him give;
not grudgingly
, or of necessity:
for God loveth a cheerful giver.
And God is able
to make all grace abound toward you;
that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things,
may abound to every good work:

(2Corinthians 9:7-8)

As a young person make it your life long desire before the Lord to be a generous and cheerful giver. The word for purpose in verse 7 is only used once in the New Testament. So it’s single mention makes it special. It means a predetermined plan of action – a conscious, voluntary choice made in advance that’s permanent and long term in nature. Have I spent much time on my knees before the Lord praying about how I can express the love of God to others by generous giving?

Our giving is to be for the right reasons – not because we ‘had to’ give or to receive pats on the back. No! Paul says God has a unique love for those who are happily committed to generous giving. Am I a cheerful (hilarious) giver – enthusiastically thrilled with the pleasure of giving? Giving without any hint of reluctance – giving with joy. Yes, we are to give ourselves to the Lord. And we are to give our time to the Lord and we are to give our talents to the Lord – but the context here are our treasures! God loves christians who happily help out others materially – whether it is directly with money or indirectly by making goods and services available to others in need. The context here is giving to help meet the temporal needs of poor Christians.

As a good Christian steward I am to give wisely, generously, joyfully and continually. Will you be the loser if you dig deep and give generously? Study verse 8. I will be a loser if I hang on to every cent, give miserly and give reluctantly and skimpily and only occasionally. Giving to others is an eternal investment and the dividends will be evident when your christian life is reviewed and rewarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

To underscore the importance of giving, we are pointed to the Supreme Example in both chapters. Chapter 8:9 “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” Then the concluding verse of Chapter 9 is: “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable (indescribable) gift.” The gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. God cheerfully and without reluctance gave His Son for us – why shouldn’t we in turn be cheerful givers representing our great and giving God?

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