May 12, 2023

II Corinthians 8: 7 But just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you also excel in this grace of giving. (NIV)

God wants to give us abundant life so we can pass it on to others.*

It has been suggested that perhaps Paul is being sarcastic here. Did the Corinthian Christians really excel in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in their love for others? Or did they just think that they did? If they really possessed these attitudes, should they have to be reminded to excel in the grace of giving?

Christians often struggle with the question of tithing. The Law required that 10% of everything belonged to God. Are we still obligated to tithe now that Jesus has fulfilled the Law? You might detect a touch of sarcasm when I ask, “Do you really have to ask that?” Christian giving is about so much more than how much money we get to keep.

In the verse following this one, Paul says, “I am not commanding you . . .” He has just described giving as a “grace,” not a law. Because we have been given grace, our obligation is to give grace - grace in faith, speech, knowledge, earnestness, love . . . Not because we have to but because we want to.

God so loved the world that he gave . . . That’s why we should excel in the grace of giving.

The man who knows most of Christ is not the intellectual scholar, not even the saint who spends his days in prayer, but the man who moves in loving generosity amongst his fellow-men.*