Why would they do something that seemed so reckless? Because they realized that no matter how tight things are for you, there’s always someone who has it worse. God’s love should motivate us to help those in need, even if we are in need ourselves.
Macedonian Giving: Submission to God
So how were the Macedonians able to give so generously out of their own need? The key is found in verse 5: “They gave themselves first of all to the Lord.”
When we’re facing tough times, the last thing that we tend to think about is how we can help other people. But the Macedonians were moved by the love and direction of God. They didn’t consider their own needs, but responded to the needs of others with God’s heart of love. And because of their great sacrifice, God gave them a special grace to accomplish this act of generosity. In the introduction to this passage, Paul says that he wants the Corinthians “to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.”
Paul finishes by appealing to the Corinthians to pursue this love and grace themselves. “See to it that you also excel in this grace of giving.”
Macedonian Giving in Your Life
So what can we take away from this story about Macedonian giving? First, generosity is important to God. He says it’s just as important as things like faith, knowledge and love. And if we surrender our wills to His love, He will endow us with the grace to give, even if we are in need ourselves.
If you are in the middle of tough financial times, should you recklessly give away what little you have? No. But despite the difficulty of your circumstances, you should continually seek God’s heart of love for others. And if He wants, He will teach you how. He will give you the grace to do it. In fact, learning to be a good giver may be one of the spiritual keys to unlocking prosperity in your own life.
Another key to prosperity is eliminating the stress money (or lack of money) is causing in your daily life. To help you do that I have created a free video series called “Stress Free Finance.” This five-video series will help you eliminate financial stress and begin building a life of blessing in just a few minutes a day.
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