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SEPTEMBER 17
was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
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up the majority. Yet I have sent the brethren, lest 8 And God is able to make all grace abound
our boasting of you should be in vain in this toward you, that you, always having all suffi-
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respect, that, as I said, you may be ready; lest ciency in all things, may have an abundance for
if some Macedonians come with me and find every good work. As it is written:
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you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) “He has dispersed abroad,
should be ashamed of this confident boasting.
5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort He has given to the poor;
the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and His righteousness endures forever.”
prepare your generous gift beforehand, which 10 Now may He who supplies seed to the
you had previously promised, that it may be sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply
ready as a matter of generosity and not as a the seed you have sown and increase the fruits
grudging obligation. of your righteousness, while you are enriched
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6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will in everything for all liberality, which causes
also reap sparingly, and he who sows bounti- thanksgiving through us to God. For the
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fully will also reap bountifully. So let each one administration of this service not only supplies
give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly the needs of the saints, but also is abounding
through many thanksgivings to God, while,
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through the proof of this ministry, they glorify
God for the obedience of your confession to
the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal shar-
9:12 administration of this service. ing with them and all men, and by their prayer
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“Administration,” which may also be translat- for you, who long for you because of the
ed “service,” is a priestly word from which we exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be to
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get “liturgy.” Paul viewed the entire collection
project as a spiritual, worshipful enterprise God for His indescribable gift!
that was primarily being offered to God to glo-
rify Him. supplies the needs of the saints.
The Greek word for “supplies” is a doubly
intense term that could be rendered “really,
fully supplying.” This indicates the Jerusalem 9:15 Paul summarized his discourse by com-
church had an extremely great need. Many paring the believer’s act of giving with what
residents of Jerusalem had undoubtedly lost God did in giving Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:32),“His
their jobs in the waves of persecution that indescribable gift.” God buried His Son and
came after the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts reaped a vast harvest of those who put their
8:1). However, the Corinthians were wealthy faith in the resurrected Christ (John 12:24).
enough (they had not yet suffered persecu- That makes it possible for believers to joyfully,
tion and deprivation like the Macedonians) to sacrificially, and abundantly sow and reap. As
help meet the huge need with a generous they give in this manner, they show forth
monetary gift. Christ’s likeness (John 12:25,26; Eph. 5:1,2).

DAY 17:What does God look for in our financial giving?
“He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully”(2 Cor.9:6).The simple,self-evident agrarian principle—which Paul applied to Christian
giving—that the harvest is directly proportionate to the amount of seed sown (Prov. 11:24,25;
19:17; Luke 6:38; Gal.6:7).When a generous believer gives by faith and trust in God,with a desire to
produce the greatest possible blessing, that person will receive that kind of a harvest of blessing
(Prov. 3:9,10; 28:27; Mal. 3:10). God gives a return on the amount one invests with Him (Luke 6:38).
“So let each one give as he purposes in his heart” (v. 7). The term translated “purposes” indi-
cates a premeditated,predetermined plan of action that is done from the heart voluntarily,but not
impulsively.“Grudgingly.”Literally,“with grief,”“sorrow,”or “sadness,”which indicates an attitude of
depression,regret,and reluctance that accompanies something done strictly out of a sense of duty
and obligation,but not joy.“Of necessity”or “compulsion.”This refers to external pressure and coer-
cion, quite possibly accompanied by legalism. Believers are not to give based on the demands of
others or according to any arbitrary standards or set amounts.“God loves a cheerful giver.”God has
a unique,special love for those who are happily committed to generous giving.The Greek word for

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