2 Corinthians 9
Bible Passage: 2 Corinthians 9
About 2 years and a week ago, biblereadingcompanion gave his/her/its/their sharing on this same chapter.
Here is the link: http://www.closerdaybyday.info/2011/09/2-corinthians-9/
That’s it for my sharing today…
Just kidding… Or else I’d be defeating the very theme of today’s chapter, since I won’t be giving any sharing, which is like giving a dressing etiquette class while wearing a singlet, Bermudas and flip-flops in a ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton.
In the posting back then, the author gave a good sharing on the key points about giving:
- We should give to others with the correct motive;
- When we give to others, we glorify God; and
- When we give to others, we make a difference in their lives.
As I read 2 Corinthians 9 and the posting by biblereadingcompanion, I am reminded again on the importance of giving to others.
And although the previous posting had already reflected several of my thoughts, I would like to share a couple more points on the topic of giving…
GTG…
Got to go?? Nope, it’s giving to God.
Giving to God? But God doesn’t need our possessions! He gave us everything!
And that’s exactly why we have to give, even though we know no matter how much we give back to Him, it would never ever be enough to equal His grace. Not only has He provided us with all our material possessions and physical well-being, but He has provided us with something even more precious and cannot be repaid so easily: His salvation grace.
All of us were condemned to die until Christ came along. And now, thanks to Him, we have this grace to be saved from death and to enter the heavenly kingdom where we can have eternal rest. And while we are on this earth, although we can never full repay Him, that does not mean that we can just sit around and do nothing for Him.
There are of course two main avenues of giving to God. The first, which is probably the easier thing to do, is to give offerings of thanksgiving. God gave us blessings in the physical realm, and thus, we should all give our tithes.
The second thing is summed up in this verse:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service…
– Romans 12: 1
Today, many of us are extremely busy with our work, studying for exams, or even formulating plans for world domination that we hardly have time for many other things. But the thing is, apart from the monetary of offerings that we make, the other thing that we have to strive to give to God is ourselves… Our time…
Whether it is giving our time to do the divine work of God, or even to just spend time to quiet ourselves and have spiritual nurture, why can’t we give at least some of our time to Jesus when He had given His entire life on earth for all of us? And during the times when we do, are we doing it out of willingness or a grudging sense of “duty”?
We must give our all to Him, because He had given His all for us first. And therefore, we have to give to God with a cheerful and willing heart, both in tithes and time.
Promises…
For the other point I’d like to share, let’s look at this verse…
Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation…
– 2 Corinthians 9: 5
Although I don’t think this verse is focusing on this next point, the word “promised” made me think about something…
There are times when we make promises to other people. Sometimes, we make these promises out of impulse or even just to please the other person at the time. But when we are reminded of our promises that need to be fulfilled, suddenly we become like “Erm…. Er…. Yea about that… I eh… Well… You see… I um… I mean did I?” We couldn’t keep the promise either simply because we forgot or we did not mean what we said in the first place.
But let your “Yes” be “Yes, and your “No”, “No”…
– Matthew 5: 37
Now, have we made such promises to God?
I’ll admit that there times when I promise something to God in my prayers, but end up realizing that I haven’t done it yet later. And I think we’ve heard of some case when someone is facing a difficult trial and he/she made a promise to God that he/she would become better in faith and serve the Lord if He bails him/her out, but the person somehow disappeared and went back to the old ways later on.
How would God feel when we don’t keep our end of the promises? God had been keeping His promises since the beginning, and we know that He would never change. But why can’t we keep simpler and shorter promises to Him, or to anyone else for that matter?
If we had made a promise to someone, we have to see it through, Before we make a promise, we must consider and think it through carefully, and once we do, we have to put it in our heart and memory.
If we happily make empty promises to give something to someone and we eventually find ourselves not so willing to fulfill them, how can we be called a cheerful giver that God likes to see?
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver\
– 2 Corinthians 9: 7
May we all have a sincere and cheerful heart when giving to others and also to our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we do not disappoint nor do generous deeds with the wrong attitude.