Eager Willingness

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

EAGER WILLINGNESS

2 Cor 8:10-12

10 And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

NIV

Paul is going to be getting to the center of his idea, but as usual, it takes Paul a while as he develops his thoughts fully. We are still in this concept of giving, and he makes the point that this Corinthian Church had given last year and they did so because they desired to give. But now he is advising them what is best and that is to finish the work of giving. He tells them although they are eager and willing to give that they should match that eagerness and willingness by their completing the act of giving. This almost sounds as if giving is not a weekly thing, as we have turned it into, but that it is something that is done in response to a need of others when they are in need. In fact, what Paul says next gives us that very insight, but we will leave that for later. Nevertheless, the point we glean from this portion is the acceptability of their gift. The reason it is acceptable is because of their willingness to give. This is a key in all giving. We should not give out of duty or compulsion, but willingly, which implies wanting to give to meet the needs of others. Again, it seems we have turned this giving into a weekly concept, not to meet the needs of others, but for the continual, never-ending, expenses of our local church. It also may be true that somehow it has become more than simply our willingness to give to meet the needs of others. Our giving has become the tithe that we are expected to give when we become a member of a denomination. It does not appear in any way to what Paul is speaking about here, as later he mentions this equality matter. This indicates that some people who have more give to those who have less, and if when those who have less at some time have more, they will share with those who have less so that there is equality in the church. This is simply not the way we operate. However, we do give according to our means, which we usually translate as our paycheck. But Paul makes it sound as though giving is to be in accordance with what we have, and not according to what we don’t have. It seems that implies more than just a tithe of our paycheck, but how do we determine just what it means to willingly give according to what we have, and then to whom do we give. To answer that, we need more information and further research. For now, let us simply consider the idea of eager willingness.