A Cheerful Heart

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

A CHEERFUL HEART

2 Cor 9:6-8

6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

NIV

Paul is continuing with his comments about giving and he has come to the point of the work of God. Yes, we have the part of giving, but God has the part of rewarding the giving in accordance with the way in which we give. Paul uses the farmer as a metaphor to give us this picture. It would make perfect sense that if a farmer only put a few seeds in the ground his harvest would be sparse. However, if he put a large quantity of seed in the ground his harvest would be plentiful. But this is totally up to the farmer as to how much seed he puts in the ground. That is how we are to see our giving. If we only give a little, God will bless us a little, but if we give more, God will bless us more, for he only blesses what we give.  At least, that is the principle Paul is laying out here. It seems right, however, it also seems that we are limited God the limit of our giving. How does that work? Can we put limits on God’s blessings? Perhaps the idea here has more to do with the attitude of our giving rather than the amount. We certainly have the control as to how much we give and we should not feel as though we are forced to give, as may be the style of some of these false preachers. We have witnessed some of the most created methods to fleece the flock as much as possible. Certainly, the people did not decide in their hearts without compulsion. But here we are in the everyday church, and it is up to us as to how much we give, and it is all about our attitude. We should not think that our tithe is our duty, or is required of us, because we have become a member of a particular denominational church. Again, simply tithing is somewhat of giving within a limit, however, it is in line with giving in accordance with our income. If that is what we have decided to do, fine, that is what is in our heart, and we want to five that tithe, we enjoy giving it. Sheer mathematics should tell us that we can more than live comfortably on ninety percent of our income, but the fact is God can make that ninety or less be more than enough to live quite nicely, in fact, Paul says all grace will abound to us if we give with a cheerful heart. That is the central core issue, a cheerful heart.