Rachel Workman: 6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: I found it interesting that Paul said don't give under compulsion but decide in your heart what to give. He didn't say 10% but rather decided in your heart beforehand not at the last minute as an impulse. God will impress upon us what we're to give. And this isn't just about money either. We all have unique gifts that we are asked to give to others. Only God knows what that is. We are just called to give of ourselves to others.
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. I also love how Paul said here that our supplier will enlarge our harvest of righteousness.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! I like how this brings it back to God. Others will praise God for the obedience. See, everything we do is for God's glory not our own. So when we give we should give with that in mind. The praise should rest at God's feet not ours. If you give with that intention then it would be better if you didn't give at all.
____________________________________________________________________________________
John Burnett:
6 Remember
this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows
generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you
have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under
compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you
abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you
need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
10 Now
he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and
increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your
righteousness. 11 You
will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every
occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This
service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s
people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by
which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience
that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for
your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you
their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given
you. 15 Thanks
be to God for his indescribable gift! I have experienced the blessings
described in this passage on numerous occasions. When we give with the
right attitude we are prospered. The prosperity preachers often misuse
this passage to line their pockets. They promise worldly prosperity when
their flock gives to the church and so people give banking on the promise that
they will get more in return while here on earth. The prosperity we
should seek comes with the rewards we store up in heaven when our gifts are
used to spread the gospel around the world, not worldly treasures like the
planes Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland fly all over the world to swindle
people out of their money. We should give because of what Jesus gave for
us and we should give to churches and organizations that wisely use that money
to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Just like the Corinthians are
doing in this passage.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Mike
Grimm: 6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap
sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each
of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly
or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. There are wrong reasons for giving. You feel that you
ought to give. So you give. Maybe you do not give. Then you think that God will
not love you. You should give because you want to give. You should give from
the desire of your heart. That is the right kind of gift. You think and decide
in your heart about your giving. Then you will know how much you should give. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all
things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good
work. 9 As it is written:
“They
have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”
their righteousness endures forever.”
10 Now
he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and
increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
You might think, ‘If I give much, God will give much
back to me’. God does not promise that. God will give you all that you need.
That is what God promises. Then he will give you enough for every good work 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be
generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in
thanksgiving to God.
12 This
service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people
but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because
of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for
the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for
your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. God saves us by his free grace. It is not through good
works such as giving. We do not give to prove that God has saved us. We give to
show our love to him. We give to thank him that he has saved us. 14 And
in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the
surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his
indescribable gift! The gift is Jesus. God has given us
this wonderful gift. We should compare all our giving with that. We should be
happy when we give. We should thank God when we give. We should thank him that
we can share this wonderful gift. We can share it with some other person.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Tomorrow's reading for 2 Corinthians 9:10-8
10 By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I
appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold”
toward you when away! 2 I beg
you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some
people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3 For though we live in the
world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of
the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
5 We demolish arguments
and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we
take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to
punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7 You are judging by appearances.[a] If anyone is confident that they belong to
Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as
they do. 8 So even if I boast somewhat
freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than
tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment