Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Today America, and perhaps much of the world, awakens to the aftermath of yesterday’s ‘midterm election frenzy’, which has gripped much of America for the past month. I doubt anyone could calculate the outrageous financial spending which has taken place all across America, over the past several weeks, for the purpose of convincing people HOW to vote yesterday.
Meanwhile, we are entering the holiday season when retailers will be spending vast amounts of advertising money, in hopes of convincing people around the world to PASSIONATE holiday spending! And finally, these year end weeks will be filled with appeals of every kind from charities hoping kind hearted people, especially Christians, will still have some resources remaining for charitable generosity, to advance helpful causes around the world.
But have you noticed a growing warning alerting people with greater intensity these recent weeks? What’s the danger? Fraud / Corruption / Scams / Scandals / Deceitful financial handling / schemes taking advantage of generous and compassionate people, organizations and even governments!
Did you know the apostle Paul was facing a very similar situation in the mid first century? Let’s see if Paul’s words could help us in 2026 as we try to navigate the global financial turbulence of these weeks.
Paul was writing TO the Christians in Corinth, FROM one of the Macedonian cities, perhaps Philippi, during a time in history when a drought and famine were ravaging a large part of Israel, including Jerusalem, in ways similar to many parts of North Africa today. Christians in all the places where Paul had brought the Gospel were urged to be generous and send finances to help the starving people in and around Jerusalem. But for many of them, they were in poverty also!
Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “We want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty has welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability….They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.” (2 Cor. 8:1-4)
What do you see in this remarkable, sacrificial generosity my friends? Do you see the people recognized it was the grace of God in their hearts that moved them to such generosity in spite of their own poverty? Do you see the Macedonians pleaded with Paul to give them every gruesome detail so they could earnestly pray FOR their fellow Christians in great suffering, but they were moved to give sacrificially, far beyond reasonableness, to help Christians they would never meet, in a place they would never see! Pause. How do you measure the work of God in guiding YOU with the best stewardship of the financial resources God entrusts to you?
Paul, who had seen God do great things in transforming many lives in Corinth wrote: “Since you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge…and in love…see that you also excel in this grace of giving… For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor. 8:7)
The Gospel of Jesus is rooted in the hard to imagine reality that God the Son, Jesus, left all His matchless glory and the majesty of heaven, to be born in an infant human body in a stable in Bethlehem. And then live a humble human life in Nazareth, and finally be rejected by those to whom Jesus came to bring God’s love, in order to become the atonement sacrifice to pay for God’s deliverance of us from our sin bondage! And that we, sinful humans bound for hell, once delivered by Jesus’ death and resurrection, could become forgiven children of God bound for heaven!
But, as in our day, Paul was concerned about the rampant corruption across the Roman Empire, and the sacredness of these offerings being sacrificially given by the churches, so Paul wrote: “We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of man.” (2 Cor. 8:20,21) Oh my friends, as you pray over the year end contributions you will be making, do you have confidence your sacrificial generosity will be handled with God honoring integrity?
Paul made sure it was trusted men who received the funds from the churches and brought them to Paul. Then Paul planned to lead a group of trusted men traveling to Jerusalem to deliver these sacred offerings, making every effort that every penny would be delivered personally to those in great need.
Let’s pause here giving serious thought to your stewardship and mine of EVERY penny God graciously entrusts to us.
* Do we earnestly seek God’s guidance for distributing ALL of it?
* Do we protect it while we have it from those who would seek to steal or scam it from us?
* Are we refining our spiritual discernment capability, so we know when, where, how God wants any amount given, large or small?
* Is it always with a joyful heart that we distribute God’s funds which have been in our hands for a while?
The ‘lessons learned’ notes will help us reflect on these types of questions, my friends and the worship song will call us to a celebration of Jesus, and I’ll be here tomorrow waiting to meet with for you.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.