Morning Dew
Key Passage: 2 Cor 8:1-9.
Key Text: 2Cor 8:7 – “see that you excel in this act of grace also.”
I have met a few people in my life, who really have the gift of giving. I used to just assume they were generous and somehow, that is what has influenced them to be such givers. Even as a child on the school play ground, you could tell kids that were generous and some that were miserly and stingy. Recently, I began to see that giving is a manifestation of God’s grace.
Grace givers are never people who give just to feel good about themselves. They give because they are called to give and empowered to give. They would give everything they own if there is a demand that that is what needs to be given.
Another important point is that grace givers do not start out rich. It is sometimes easy to think that the grace givers are giving so freely because they are rich. Truth be told. Most of them became rich by giving. God saw that they exercised this gift and as a result, He gave them more and kept on giving them, till they became quite rich and there giving continued to abound.
I once heard of a story of a man, who in a fund raising for a Kingdom project in America, once it came to his turn to give, just gave whatever was left to give to complete the project. It ran into millions of dollars. When asked why he gave so much, and why he seemed so happy giving, he simply said “this is my calling and gift”. It was later revealed that the man was a successful businessman who gave ninety percent of his earnings as tithe and lived off just ten percent. Now that is a grace. It is definitely not works. He has been empowered by God to give.
Grace givers never lack! They always have. They are as it were in partnership with God and are stewards of His grace. So they are directly drawing on the endless resources of God for the provision of peoples needs.
Paul encouraged the church in Corinth to excel in this grace also. I want this grace in my life and I am sure you want it too.
Let us Pray: Father God, you are the greatest giver. You gave your only begotten Son to redeem us. Thank you. I see from your word, that there is a grace of giving. Lord, please give me this grace too. I want to be a grace giver. I want to join this special task force of God to help the needy in this world. Please bless me with this gift and grace. This I ask in Jesus name. Amen.
“It was later revealed that the man was a successful businessman who gave ninety percent of his earnings as tithe and lived off just ten percent”
Will you as a “pastor” do the same as above?