2 Corinthians 7-8

7:1 - ...let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

7:6 - God who comforts the downcast, comforted us.

7:9 - ...not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance.... - There is a difference between being sorry and being sorry in the way that God intends to lead you to life. Godly sorrow changes your heart. Many of us are sorry we got caught or sorry we feel a certain way, but godly sorrow is sorry deeper down that the transgression occurred within us in the first place.

7:11 - Godly sorrow brings earnestness, eagerness, indignation, alarm, longing, concern and a desire to see justice done. If you do not experience these in connection with your repentance it may be you are just sorry, but not in a godly and fruitful way.

8:2 - In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity, - WOW! What a verse. I wish it could be said of us. The worse the economy gets the greater our joy should be because we are not from this place and our hope becomes richer as we are reminded that this world has nothing for us. Our difficulty financially ought to remind us of our eternal hope in Jesus and cause us to give BIGGER! When we can't give in difficult times it says something about where our faith truly lies.

8:3 - They gave BEYOND their ability. Beyond. They knew what they could handle and they gave more. That is some serious faith and some serious love. We have to be careful not just to give what we can. Grace gives BIG and BEYOND!

8:4 - the privilege of sharing - Wouldn't it be awesome if we all saw it this way? God gives us the privilege of joining with Him. It is like a multi-billionaire inviting you into a business with him. God invites us into changing eternity with Him and we get all uptight about it. It is a gift and an opportunity. We should take our two nickels, our hundreds of thousands of dollars or whatever we have and join with God in what He is doing. We should give as those who feel highly blessed to even be invited to give towards what God is doing. How we must insult God with the way we give at times.

8:5 - having given themselves first of all to the Lord, - Money is not the issue and yet you can see the issue through money. We are to give ourselves FIRST to God and if we do it shows through how we give.

8:6 - Giving is an act of grace.

8:7 - ...see that you also excel in this grace of giving. - HA! I can just see our hearts screeching to a halt at the word excel. I think many of us want to just get a passing grade when it comes to giving. We don't have any intention of being an A+ giver. C- will do just fine.

8:12 - for if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. - The beauty in partnering with god is that the amount is never the issue. God is pleased when we give our tithes and offerings from what we have. 10% is within the reach of every follower of Christ where $1,000,000 wouldn't be. god says, "Let me make it easy for you. No matter what you make give me the first 10%, that way all of you can be a part of this." Every one of us has the power to obey this teaching.

8:13 - The goal of Paul's comments was equality. He wanted each person to do their part. It is funny how many people withhold because they are concerned others won't do their part. If we would be faithful to give what God has called and instructed us to give and not worry about others things would change dynamically. Our gift is to God and He can make even a few fish and some bread given faithfully be enough for thousands. Our hearts is the issue and God loves a cheerful giver.

8:15 - Paul uses an illustration that speaks volumes. He likens giving for the Corinthians to the deal with manna in the desert. If you don't know that story, the the Israelites were in the desert and didn't have any food. They cried out to God and He answered them with bread that they named manna (literally what is it?). God's instruction was to gather a certain amount each day, no more and no saving it for other days except for the day before the Sabbath. They could collect 2 times as much on Friday and it would not rot. The teaching was and is dependence on God. Paul uses the same analogy. We need to trust that God's provision is enough and know that if we do it God's way it will be okay. So many people do not give because they fear they will go without. god has made a promise and proven Himself over and over through thousands of years of human history. god blesses faithful giving and He does not let the faithful go hungry or in need. A lot of our financial troubles occur because we do not trust god so we do not give faithfully. We have a million reasons, but it is a trust issue. God has promised to provide for our every need if we will put Him first. As you give in faith you will not go without.

Love,
Michael