June 5 | Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 23-24; John 15

The Gift of Giving

Each of you should give . . . not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

In a 2024 address to 1,200 university graduates, a billionaire businessman said: “These trying times have heightened the need for sharing, caring and giving. [My wife and I] want to give you two gifts: the first is our gift to you, the second is the gift of giving.” His words were followed by the distribution of two envelopes each to the unexpectant graduates—four hundred pounds to keep and four hundred to give away to a person in need.

Though the billionaire’s wealth has allowed him to share like this on more than one occasion, generosity isn’t reserved for those with great means. Believers in Jesus in ancient Macedonia gave out of their poverty so the needs of believers in Jerusalem could be met. Paul said of the Macedonians, “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” (2 Corinthians 8:2). He commends them because “they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people” (vv. 3-4).

Those who recognise that they’ve been given much grace from God through Jesus can respond with generous hands to the needs of others. With God’s help, let’s give after the example of the one who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

By Arthur Jackson

REFLECT & PRAY

What can you offer generously to someone? How have you been the recipient of another’s generosity?

Heavenly Father, please help me to give generously to others.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

A fitting label for the “Macedonian churches” (2 Corinthians 8:1)—Thessalonica and Berea—is “Exemplars of Grace.” These churches were planted by Paul on his second missionary journey in Philippi. Second Corinthians 8 describes these believers in Jesus. They weren’t content simply with being recipients of God’s favour (v. 1 ); they became channels of generosity. Furthermore, they didn’t allow their destitution to excuse them from sharing with others: “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” (v. 2). As recipients of God’s grace (v. 1), they viewed their participation not as an obligation but as a “privilege” (v. 4). Finally, the giving of their material possessions was the result of their having given themselves first to Christ ( v. 5), who, “though he was rich . . . became poor, so that [we] through his poverty might become rich” (v. 9). As we give sacrificially to others in need, we reflect His giving ways.

Arthur Jackson

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