Paul is sharing how generous the churches in Macedonia have been by giving
more than they could afford. What
really stuck out to me was what he shares in verse 5,
“They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give
themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.”
All of our money doesn’t mean much to God if we don’t give ourselves
to Him. As we surrender to Him we
start to open our hearts and we are guided by the Holy Spirit to give and serve
and we learn to be like Christ.
As I looked up the Greek word for give it came up (didomi)
which means: I give myself up as it
were; an hyperbole for disregarding entirely my private interests, I give as
much as ever I can. Can
you imagine if we gave ourselves to Him like that – disregarding entirely our
private interest? That would look
like this as we matured in our walk with Him. No concern with money, we would give to
the church. No concern with our
time, we would serve with a joyful heart helping people see our loving
attitude. No concern about loving
people, which would make us look at others needs not just our own.
And finally no concern about learning from the Lord because we would
spend time asking and seeking wisdom and understanding so we could be just like
Him.
Giving is so much more than just our finances it’s about our
hearts being transformed by God to be who He created but with the love He had
for us. As we give ourselves to
Him fully we see how our selfish desires fade away and our willingness to give
increases. I love what Paul says
in Galatians chapter 5 verses 24-25,
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their
sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there.
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in
every part of our lives.” God
has given us His Spirit so we can continue to learn and have a guide into all
truths.
When we are willing to listen we will hear exactly what we need
to so we can help make a difference in the world for the Kingdom of God. I pray that we all give ourselves to
the Lord in this manner and realize nothing is better than knowing and following
Jesus Christ.
Amen