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2 Corinthians 8:7
7“Since you excel in so many
ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us—I want you to excel
also in this gracious act of giving.
Using the church in Macedonia
as an example of generosity, Paul expects no less from the Corinthians church,
reminding them how they excel in many ways. Referring to the Macedonian church
they have two main reasons why they can give generously or their Generosity Comes Easy, first they gave themselves
to the Lord and second they gave themselves to us to be used as the
Lord wanted. (2nd cor. 8:5 NLV) Notice the phrase “gave themselves to us”
gave us the idea of their trust and love for the ministers of God lead by
Apostle Paul. This is the same concept 2 Cor. 8:7 is presenting to us when Paul
said; excel… your love from us or your love for us. (NKJV)
Both the Macedonian and Corinthians
churches had abundant love to their ministers; the apostles and ministers of
the word, whom they loved, valued, and honored for their works' sake. Heb. 13:7
said; “Remember your leaders, who spoke
the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate
their faith”. In this attitude I believed that Generosity will come easy.
So ask yourself the following:
- Do I regularly take time to recognize my spiritual leaders and identify the contributions they have made in my life?
- Do I respect those who minister spiritually to me?
- Do my spiritual leaders know that I admire and love them?
- Do I express appreciation and gratitude to my spiritual leaders for their labors on my behalf?
- Do I speak well of my spiritual leaders to others?
Hebrew 13:17-18
“Have confidence in your leaders and submit
to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an
account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would
be of no benefit to you. Pray for us.
We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in
every way.”
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