Earnest to Give or to Keep?

“For they [were] begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.”
2 Corinthians 7:4

In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul is addressing giving amongst the churches and he highlights the heart of the church in Macedonia. What he says here may be quite surprising to us- he says that they were begging to have the opportunity to give.

I wonder how many of us, foremost myself, could be able to say the same thing? To long for the opportunity to give when God is moving?

A few verses earlier, Paul reveals that this church even gave out of of “extreme poverty”, “beyond their means”, and even with an “abundance of joy” (v2).

So they were poor, and yet they gave joyfully and earnestly.

Does that describe the way we give to the purposes of the Lord when a leader of a church asks for an offering? Or are we all like me, who take out our fat wallets (it’s fat compared to the rest of the world!) and look for the most convenient bill to take out only to fulfill a sense of duty?

I think if we searched within our hearts we would find that our reluctancy to give is because we believe much of the teaching we get from our American culture- the love for money and an exaggerated love for ourselves.

However, this should not be the case for God’s chosen people. For we, and all of what we have, are set apart for the purposes of God now, not the purposes of man.

Therefore, we should be like those in Paul’s letter- a people who long and desire to give.