To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

Have you ever thought along these lines: “If I just had more money, I could do a lot of good for a lot of people?” Maybe you’ve looked around you and seen people with more talent or more skill, or who are in some way more gifted than you, and you’ve thought, “If I was more like them, I could do more for others.”  If you think that way, the verse above should give you an entirely new perspective.  It speaks of God’s grace abounding towards each and every believer so that they are entirely sufficient in every single thing at all times to abound in every good work. 

Such sweeping, all-encompassing language. But what does it really mean? Does this mean that any person can do anything they want if they would just have faith?  I don’t think so.  The Bible also tells us that we all have different God-given gifts.  It talks about how the church is a body, with each member having a different role to play in that body.  Some of those roles are more prominent than others, but none of them is more important than any others.  Therefore, our view should be that inasmuch as God has given us a role to play in His service, i.e., to engage in “good works”, He has surely given us all that we need to do those works. 

In context, Paul is talking to the Corinthian church about giving.   He is talking about how we should give cheerfully, not under compulsion.  He is talking about how if we sow little, we will reap little, and vice versa.  He is telling us this to let us know that we should never fear having enough for ourselves if God is guiding us to serve Him in some way, be it in financial giving or in any other way.  But we should also understand that Paul is speaking to the church as a whole.  It is the church that God has gifted so that collectively it can do His work in the world.  Whatever God has told us to do in His Word, He has given us the ability to do, collectively, as each one does his or her part. 

The question is, are we doing our part?  Is the church suffering because I’m not using the gifts that God has given me?  One example is in the area of prayer.  Prayer is a gracious gift of God.  Do we take full advantage of it?  Is our work all that it should be or are we falling short in this particular area? Do we have eyes to see the needs around us? Do we know and are we being led into specific areas of service as we seek the Lord in prayer, or is our prayerlessness hindering the work of God?  Is our service falling woefully short of all it could be to glorify the One who has saved us and given us eternal life, simply because we fail to pray? When the church calls people together for prayer, are we there with them, or do we have other “better” things to do? 

God, in His grace, has opened the curtain, so to speak, into His very presence through the death of His Son (Hebrews 10:19-22).  He’s opened access to His very throne room, typified by the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament Temple.  Are we going in?  Are we seeking Him all the time for the sufficiency that only He can give? Or do we have not because we ask not (James 4:2)?  Clearly, God has done all that is necessary to enable us to glorify Him in every way that He has ordained for us in His Word.  May God help us to believe and act on this truth..