“June 20, 2024 - How God Evaluates”

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

How God Evaluates

Reading:  2 Corinthians 8:8-15
    
    Paul has been encouraging the Corinthians to complete their promised gift for the needy Jerusalem Christians by describing the Macedonians’ generosity (v. 1-5).  “I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine”(2 Cor 8:8).  True gifts must come from a willing heart, uncoerced by any command.  So Paul explains that he is stirring up their motivation “by the earnestness of others.”  He has another example to mention:  “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich”(2 Cor 8:9).  Jesus chose to lay aside the wealth of heaven and become a Galilean peasant to enrich us.  Giving is at the heart of the gospel.

    What is odd is that it appears that the Corinthians were initially interested in contributing but have now cooled.  They “a year ago started”(2 Cor 8:10) and now he wants them to “finish doing it”(2 Cor 8:11).  Perhaps they have experienced hard financial times or think that their gift won’t amount to much.  Paul reassures:  “For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have”(2 Cor 8:12).  He urges them to give the gift without concern for what others have (or what the Corinthians do not have).  But it is possible that the issue is that they view it as unfair to have to give to others.  “For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness”(2 Cor 8:13-14).  This is not a permanent dependence; Paul merely seeks “fairness” and equality as brethren share their gifts.

    Paul asserts that our service is “acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.”  This is the principle of the widow’s two mites:  God does not evaluate absolutely, but according to what we have.  God sees our hearts.  He does not compare us to others who have more or less—money, talent, opportunity.  He simply expects us to do what we can with what we have where we are—and finds this “acceptable.”

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One Thing to Think About:  What do I have that can benefit others?

One Thing to Pray For:  Opportunities to share with (and receive from) my brothers
 

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