Journey Through The Bible
     Old Testament Reading: Judges 16-18
     New Testament Reading: 2 Corinthians 8

Now also finish the task, so that just as there was an eager desire, there may also be a completion, according to what you have. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have (2 Corinthians 8:11-12).

There is a great difference between promise and performance. The Corinthians had boasted to Titus a year before that they would share in the special collections. Paul was now urging them to keep their promise. Paul was careful that they understood that he was not ordering them to give. He said, I am not saying this as a command (v8a)and in this matter I am giving advice because it is profitable for you, who began last year not only to do something but also to want to do it (v10).

The Corinthians were willing to give, Paul said, there was an eager desire (v11). True Christian giving must come from a willing heart, it cannot be coerced or forced. But they had confused willing with doing. The two must go together. If the willing is sincere and in the will of God, then there must also be a performance. Paul did not say willing was a substitute for doing because it is not. But if our giving is motivated by grace, we will give willingly, not because we have been forced to.

Paul continued their giving was to be according to what you have. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have (v11b-12). Paul reminds us that God assesses our monetary gifts not by the actual amount given, but by comparing it with our total financial resources. Remember the story of the poor widow in Mark 12: 41-44? She is a beautiful illustration of this point. Our giving is acceptable to God according to what we have, not according to what we don’t have. The widow had little, but she gave it all, and God honored her.

Whatever one has is the resource out of which he should give. The implication is that if one has much, he can give much; if he has little, then he can only give little. That is why there are no set amounts or percentages for giving anywhere stated in the New Testament. Paul did not lay down some mathematical formula because Christian giving is not limited by the tithe. Christian giving is systematic (1 Cor 16:1-4), but it is not legalistic. It is by God’s grace from a willing heart motivated by love.

Paul said, I am testing the genuineness of your love (v8b). True Christian giving is evidence of your love; love for Christ (v8), love for God’s servants who have ministered to us (v5), and love for those who have special needs that we can help meet (v13-14).