ACCEPTABLE GIVING

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In Christ, Mark

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

Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it. Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.

2 Corinthians 8:10-12 (NLT)

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

If the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is the love chapter, then the eighth chapter of 2 Corinthians is definitely the giving chapter for just as Paul’s focus is on love in the former, his emphasis is definitely on giving in the latter.

This truth has played out in our messages so far in this chapter as we have looked at the blessed generosity shown by the Christians in Corinth, giving that was excellent because they followed a certain process and emulated the actions of Jesus, the greatest role model for giving that mankind has ever had.

As we continue the study of this chapter in today’s message, we find Paul providing the guidelines for appropriate giving and this is critical because while giving is definitely required and endorsed by God’s word, there always seems to be a lingering question as to how much a person should give.

For example, if your church is working on the budget for the next year, they may ask the congregational members to complete a giving estimate for the coming year. This request causes people to have to sit down and decide how much they commit to. In doing this, they may ponder how much is enough.

So how much is acceptable to the Lord when it comes to giving?

Let’s look again at our three verses today for the answer.

Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it. Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 2 Corinthians 8:10-12 (NLT)

What is acceptable?

It isn’t to give in a way that overextends yourself, that’s for sure. We are to give according to what we have, not what we don’t have. In other words, the Lord wouldn’t expect you to go into debt by charging your offering on a credit card. Rather, He would want you to work giving into your budget in a way that is “in proportion to what you have”. Then a person could give eagerly because they not only know that their giving is in accordance with what they have but also done in a way that is acceptable to the Lord.

This was the kind of giving the Corinthian church had engaged in during the year prior to Paul writing this latter and the Apostle encourages them to continue giving as they were in the year to come.

Friends, this message is written as much for us as it was for the Christ believers in Corinth. For the Lord still calls on His people to give charitably to the church and elsewhere, and this giving will be acceptable when we conscientiously give in proportion to what we have, giving what we can.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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