EXCELLENCE IN GIVING

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

2 Corinthians 8:6-7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Over the past couple messages, particularly in chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians, we have been focusing on the matter of giving. This has been prompted by Paul’s words as he writes to the Christians in Corinth and focuses on their blessed generosity expressed through the charitable donations sent to the church in Jerusalem.

In the last message, we saw where this blessed generosity is really born out of a two step process. First, one needs to give themselves fully to the Lord, submitting to Him completely. When a person does this, then the outcome is that they trust that the Lord will provide for their needs and therefore can give freely as the Lord desires, fully acknowledging that they are really giving away what is rightfully His, not theirs.

Now, this sounds easy if we look at it in a vacuum but life is a marathon, not a sprint. Blessed generosity is something that is expected to persevere over a lifetime. So how can we continue to sustain excellence in our giving? How can we ensure that we are pleasing God with our benevolence, whether to the church or elsewhere, for the long run?

We find Paul giving us some insight to answering these questions in our passage for today. Look again at his words here:

So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. 2 Corinthians 8:6-7

I don’t know about you but I was taught from a very young age that success typically comes from a lot of hard work. You have to be dedicated and committed to be the best you can be at whatever you are doing.

Now, most people do this in regard to one thing. Maybe it’s as a student, attending college. It could be someone who is employed in a certain vocation. It could also be someone who has some special skill like music or art. All of these instances and more could create an environment where a person might be laser-focused on one undertaking with the goal of being a standout in what they do.

When it comes to our spiritual lives, we need to be just as devoted to allowing the Lord to help us become the people He wants us to be in whatever He calls us to do. It’s obvious through the words of Paul that the Corinthian Christians had excelled in many different spiritual disciplines. Specifically, he mentions their faith, speech, knowledge, and love, all things that Paul and his fellow missionaries had tried to teach and show the believers there. The Jesus followers of Corinth had practiced all these earnestly but Paul wanted them to pursue one other matter with the same level of intent and that was the matter of giving.

It’s important to read all of his words here. For it wasn’t just giving that Paul asked the Corinthian Christians to excel in. They were also to excel in grace, specifically in this case, the grace of giving.

How does this change the dynamic of giving, especially from a Christian perspective?

We need to look at grace through the eyes of the Lord to find the answer.

As an easy way to remember what grace really means, I have always liked to look at the word like an acronym:

God’s

Reward

At

Christ’s

Expense

Note here that no one does anything to earn this gift from God. It is received when a person believes in Jesus as Savior by faith. Works are not required to gain the gift of salvation. God grants it freely through His Son.

Now apply this concept of grace to the matter of giving. We are to give freely and unconditionally to others as God directs through His will. He will lead us to give, not just when but how much. When we do this, we will always be assured that we are giving as God desires and therefore giving with excellence.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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