Footsteps #192

“ So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem^[f] will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.¹³ As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. ¹⁴ And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. ¹⁵ Thank God for this gift^[g] too wonderful for words!” NLT (2Cor9:12-15)

 2Cor9:12-15 continued. The first benefit of being a generous giver is that it supplies the needs of God’s people. The second benefit is that it awakens gratitude. (11b, 12b) This concept appears twice–once at the end of v11 and again at the end of v12. Thirdly, It glorifies God v13. And Finally,  it stimulates prayer, v14.

Several years later Rom.15:25-27 indicates that the Corinthians headed Paul’s exhortation.

Finally, notice the last words of the chapter: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” This simple benediction is one of the most profound in all of Scripture. The gift as a reference to God’s gift of a Saviour to a lost and dying world. That is the gift that is beyond all other gifts. That is the gift behind all other gifts, because God’s indescribable generosity to us is what motivates all our own attempts to be generous. 

The gospel is founded upon giving and its spirit is giving. God gives us everything: Jesus, eternal life, grace and glory,  and then, moved by love to Him, we give ourselves back to Him and to His people. We can never estimate the gift of God. You cannot appraise the value of God’s gift of Jesus. The love which is seen in Jesus is inconceivable, infinite, unspeakable. It is a fathomless abyss of mystery. His wondrous condescending love in taking our place, His standing in the sinner’s stead that we might stand in His place and be accepted in the Beloved—this carries our heart away and we never weary of the theme. O divine doctrine! Full of consolation! Teeming with highest hopes! At its contemplation our hearts expand and our tears overflow. No words can describe it. Whole libraries could not begin to plumb the depths of His marvelous generosity. The most gifted and articulate word smiths on earth could use the most exalted expressions of which human thought and language are capable and still fall far short of the glorious reality.  Whether in Corinth or Australia, when we begin to realize even a little of the vast scope of His sovereign kindness, it opens our hearts and opens our resources.