BIBLICAL BASIS
I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 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.
- 2 Corinthians 8:8-9
Paul did not command the Roman Christians to offer their bodies as living sacrifices to God; rather, he urged or beseeched them. He made clear that they certainly owed this response "in view of God's mercy" (Romans 12:1). But Paul knew God wanted their response to be from their own willingness to do so. Here again we see the correlation between sharing our material possessions and presenting our bodies to God. Though we certainly owe it to the Lord to be generous people because of his generosity to us, he wants our gifts to come from willing hearts.
Paul had a second motive when he penned these words: "I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others" (2 Corinthians 8:8). This is why he began this section of his letter by illustrating what the Macedonian churches had done. How sincere were the Corinthians?
Supracultral Principle 52
Grace giving
God wants us to share our material possessions not in response to a command but rather out of love, reflecting sincere appreciation for his gift of salvation.
When Paul reminded the Corinthians that he didn't want them to respond to a command to share their material possessions, he at the same time reminded them of Jesus Christ, who willingly became poor so they (and all believers) might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus Christ is our example in every respect. What he, "who, being in very nature God," did for the world in giving his life as a humble servant, even unto death (Philippians 2:6-7), should constantly motivate all of us as Christians to joyfully give our material possessions in a generous way. That's "grace giving!"
Extracted from Dr Gene Getz’s Rich in Every Way
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