Wednesday, 20th November

READING

2 Corinthians 9

MEDITATION

I have been struggling recently with my golf.

So a couple of weeks ago I booked a lesson with the local coach.

She told me that I was using the wrong muscles.

In a golf swing, one has to try to keep the arms out of the game, and learn to rotate the body.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 9, Paul wants to encourage us to exercise the right muscles when it comes to giving.

Paul, speaking to the wealthy middle class Corinthian church, who had promised to help the churches in Jerusalem, but had not kept their promise.

And the muscle they need to exercise is their heart muscle.

Paul says in 9v5: “So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised.  Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.”

We are encouraged to be generous in our giving.

Our giving should not be forced.  We don’t give because we must.

We give because our hearts have been moved by the way Christ gave himself for us.

It is not about using our hands to take money out of our wallets or to draw from the ATM.

It is about having hearts filled with Christ.

So as Paul will say later in verse 7, God loves a cheerful giver.

To summarise:  Christians are people who are overjoyed by Christ’s Grace ; His generosity.

This leads to us:

• Giving generously.
• Giving sacrificially.
• Giving cheerfully.

And when we do this, we find great joy and we promote thanksgiving to God.

And we promote the glory of God.

PRAYER

Lord, I thank you for your generosity to me.  I pray that your grace would so impact me that my heart would be filled with a desire to be a generous giver. Amen.

PRAYER for TODAY

• Pray that, we at CCB, would have the right motives when it comes to giving.
• Pray that at CCB, we would be known as a church that is generous.
• Pray that our finances at CCB would grow.
• Pray that we would be able to offer more generous and sacrificial support to Christ Church Hillbrow.
• Pray that we would be able to support the many in financial need at CCB.
• Pray that at CCB we would be committed to doing everything for the glory of God.