To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 8:7 “But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.”

One of the things that can happen to us as we follow Christ is to think that by knowing what is right, we are doing what is right.  We can be very blessed as we learn the many wonderful things the Bible has to teach us, but stop short of putting it all into practice.  As Jesus demonstrated His humility and love towards his disciples by the very mundane task of stooping to wash their feet, He told them “I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:15).  Then He said “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:17).  It’s the same message in the verse above, which Paul spoke to the believers at Corinth.  He had just given them the example of the sacrificial and earnest financial giving of the Christians at Macedonia.  Then he commends the Corinthians for their belief in and knowledge of spiritual things as he speaks of their faith, speech, knowledge, earnestness, and love.  But then he implores them to tangibly demonstrate the reality of these things by “this act of grace,” by which he was referring to financial giving.  

May God help us to remember that the knowledge and gifts He has given us are not to just stop with us. The grace that God has poured into our lives is meant to then be poured out into the lives of others as we have opportunity.