“Excel In The Grace Of Giving…!”

“Excel In The Grace Of Giving…!”
I am often everwhelmed by the generous spirit of my three and half year old granny. Sometimes she will take a cup, put a spoon inside and serve you, saying, “This is your tea. Drink it like that, there is no milk.” When you say, “Thank you,” she responds with a “You are welcome.” At that my heart just melts.
My brother of Bali Modern Jazz orchertra fame, Dr. Moses Fokong sang that “Nyikob ni mfa yum mbo mun e to fa mbun dzùi a.” A loose translation is that God gives to the person who has open hands, or the one who would give to others.
You may say there are people who have enough but their fists are what we jokingly call “Japanese handbreak” – tight-fisted! Accepted that there are people who have but do not give. When you have and you do not share, then it is probably not from God.
Giving is an act of grace. God gave the Macedonian churches such grace, such that in “the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.”
Your cup must not overflow before you give the excesses. No! Give until it pains. Give as much as you are able and even beyond your ability. Jesus commended the minute gift of a poor widow over against the gifts of the rich people who gave more. The others gave out of the abundance of their wealth, but “she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on”(Lk.21:1-4).
Do not give because somebody has compelled you to do so or because you want others to applaud you. Give because it is a privilege in sharing in the service to the saints.
Giving out of love brings more benefit to the giver than the recipient. During the time of famine the widow of Zarephath gave the last bit of food she had to prophet Elijah. As a result her “jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry” until the famine was over (I Kgs 17:8-16).
Giving especially for God’s work is a response to the mighty work of our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. “He was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
My friend, you are specially blessed. You have been giving right? That is commendable; but now, bring “to completion this act of grace on your part…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”(II Cor.8:1-9). Remember: “Givers never lack” because through the grace of God they are always replenished!
Sunday prayer: Holy Spirit prod me on to bring this good work to completion by excelling in the grace of giving. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you!