In my devotions for the past couple weeks, i have been reading Corinthians. The leadership team for our new night service are reading it together. a chapter a day. Its been really good to read. This week we have been Reading 2 Corinthians 8-15. I have been really challenged this week with giving. it has come up numerous times in the readings this week and its been pretty convicting.
2 Corinthians 8:7,8: Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us[c]—I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.
I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches.
2 Corinthians 9:6-10: Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
Since being back in Australia i have been struggling with giving. I have been giving weekly in church, but i have found it a struggle to give and i dont give as much as i could. I think what the problem is, is that i feel that since i have lived in the slums for a year and lived with no money, its like God owes me something. and its a bit of selfishness. its my money, so i am not gonna give it back to God. i have had a whole year with no money. this theory is wrong and God was convicting me of this.
So I just hope and pray that as the church we will be the generous givers we are called to be.
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- Lisa Johnson
- Well... I used to write here alot... now i don't... sorry. But i am 20 yr old and just got married!!!! Still LOVE playing netball and still LOVE hanging out with friends!!!
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7 comments:
just a quick comment, as far as money goes it is an item and im not sure but i dont think God needs money he gets rich seeing you and the people around you being happy, helping each other out, lovin on an other. etc. you get the idea so just cuz u feel that you arent giving as much as you could God WILL understand.
Sarah
no sarah, u missed the whole point. it is selfish of me to not give money that is rightfully Gods. i am not giving as much as i could or should be giving. it is biblical for Christians to tithe. and tithe means 10%. i can easily give 10% of what i earn. its about where my heart is at when i am only giving God 7 or 8%. and my heart is saying that thats all i want to give.... no more cuz i want more money. its all about selfishness.
Hmmm. It is scriptural for Jews to tithe. We are gentiles and mosaic law has no hold on us. Add to that, we are Christians and live under grace, so mosaic law doubly has no hold over us. But you are right, it is an attitude of selfishness to fight, and ten percent is a convenient amount. Being discplined and sticking to giving a set percentage can be hard. Generosity is different to/on top of that. I kinda forgot/ allowed myself to be too busy to remember to tithe for parts of the last couple of months, and now I owe God $396, lol. It always seems stupid when you earn so little and you think "when I am earning alot, THEN I will give faithfully", but if you don't do it in little things, it will be harder when you have more. It's up to you and God as to the amount though.
ok im saying this in the nicest possible way you are not giving the money to God you are giving it to your church!
hmm... interesting thought anon... i have no idea who you are, which i hate. i prefer to know who you are.
but i disagree with you. i wish i could explain myself, but i am finding it hard... i will try my best.
the church is not the meeting i go to on sundays, but rather its the people that are in community there. and the heart beat of all churches, well meant to be the heart beat is God. so God is the centre of the church, which is the people. essentially i am not giving it to the people of my community to do what they want, but rather give it to the spiritual heads of the church who have a responsibility to make sure they use the money how God wants them to. so the money may go in the hands of humans, but ultimately it is for the bride of Christ (church) to honour God and use it how he wants to.
man i suck at trying to explain myself... can anyone help me out here? Denise, u r smart... can u help me out a bit here?
Hi anonymous :) Never "assume" - it makes an "ass" out of "u" and "me" get it :) sigh, sorry bad joke...
Who said I give all my ten percent to my local church? I do give some, and like Lisa said, it is up to some people in that church to make sure that money is used to benefit God's people. If it was a church that didn't have alot of people giving and able to give financially, and you could see their work in the community dying as a result, then I would give it all there. But nomatter how I give my money to God, how would you suggest that I give it to Him in a manner that DOESN'T involve giving it to another person? And why would giving to God's people(church) financially - to benefit their work for God - be a bad thing? Unless they were blatantly squandering it?
Shall I instead burn it on a sacrificial altar to give it to God? what a waste...
thanks steph, u r awesome. so much better at explaining than me!
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