GRACE GIVES CONFIDENCE PART TWO

In 2 Corinthians 8-9. Paul deals extensively with what it means to practice grace giving. In fact, in these two chapters alone, the word "grace" is mentioned six times.

We learn from these chapters that grace giving is God-honoring. When everything is going well in your life and you give God the crumbs, you are not honoring God. But when everything is blowing up in your face and you give to God sacrificially, you do honor God--something He will never forget. Problems are a part of living, but don't use problems as an excuse to not practice generosity.

It is because of the grace that we have freely received that we can be sympathetic with other people's trials. Our trials give us the ability to minister to others with compassion.

That is the difference the grace of God makes, and that is why the Apostle Paul writes, "out of the most sever trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in generosity" (2 Corinthians 8:2).

What did they have to be joyful about when they are in the midst of severe trials? Well, they had joy in the fact that God's grace was poured out upon them. That is truly enough to make you joyful until you close your eyes in death. They had joy in the fact that they had been brought by God out of the darkness and into light and that they were on their way to spend eternity in heaven.

Grace giving is generous giving and it receives God's blessing. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:5, "And they did not do as we expected, but they gave of themselves first in the Lord, and then to us in keeping with God's will." Trials and poverty tend to make us bitter, mean, tight-fisted and greedy. However, when those trials are seen through spiritual eyes, we can comprehend things that the world cannot, and we want to give generously.

The Macedonians gave first of themselves and then of their possessions. Paul said they first gave themselves to the Lord and then everything else became just that--things.

Grace giving is God's model. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." The giving of the Macedonians was incredibly sacrificial, but it was nothing in comparison to what God gave. What He gave is incomprehensible.

Before the incarnation, the Lord Jesus Christ was in the presence of God the Father. He had perfect intimacy and communion in the godhead. He owned everything that the godhead owned--all of the galaxies, including that tiny little called "Earth," with all of its gold, silver, diamonds, and stock and bonds. He owned it all, and yet He laid it aside and became poor, bleeding to death on a cruel cross for our salvation. Never in the entire history of the universe did anyone abandon so much in order to become so poor so that so many can become rich in grace.

When you practice grace giving, you are following the model of your Lord Jesus. Our greatest model for giving is the cross of Christ.

What are you withholding from God today?

Copied from My Journal, The Awesomeness of God's Grace by Dr. Michael Youssef