GPS Guide – November 5, 2019
GENEROUS GIFTS
Tuesday
Read: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15
” 6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” 10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! ” (NIV 2 Corinthians 9:6-15)
Study: “You will be made rich in every way” (verse 11). The apostle Paul, a roving preacher who owned, it would seem, no real estate, life insurance, or retirement plan, wrote those words! Even to people who lived in the large city of Corinth, he used the language of harvest, of God increasing their crop. He challenged them (and us) to rethink what “rich” and “more than enough” really meant. God sows generously. He asks us to produce a generous harvest. Paul did not invent the idea that “God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Chronicles 31:4-10 said that after King Hezekiah’s call to supply the Temple, “the Israelites generously gave the best of their grain, new wine, oil, honey, and all their crops—a tenth of everything, a huge amount.” Why would God want us to give from free, grateful hearts without coercion or pressure? When have you felt the joy of giving freely from a grateful heart of love?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you gave, literally, all you had to give for me “for the sake of the joy” laid out in front of you (Hebrews 12:2). Teach me more each day about the joy of generosity. Amen.