Above and Beyond

There’s a saying that goes, “He would give you the shirt right off his back.” We say that about someone who is very generous. Maybe you know somebody like that, who would do anything to help you.
In the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul is encouraging the church at Corinth to give to fellow believers in Jerusalem who were constantly being persecuted by the Jewish leaders. As if that wasn’t enough, because of a recent famine, many were literally starving to death! As he traveled, Paul told other Christians about these dear believers and the response of these Christians was to give— generously.
The churches in Macedonia (such as the Philippians and Thessalonians) were especially generous. Look at what Paul says about them: “For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God” (2 Cor 8:3–5).
These believers gave as much as they were able, and even more than they were able, says Paul. They really wanted to be involved in the ministry of giving to these fellow believers! They wanted to share (that’s what the word fellowship means) their money with their fellow believers in and around Jerusalem.
Why did they do this? Their giving to fellow believers was not just because they were nice folks. Rather, their generosity flowed from the fact that they had first given themselves to God. They affirmed, “God, we belong to you, and everything we have is really yours. We want to use it to serve you and your people.”
How about you? Does God have all of you? Do you willingly admit that everything you are and have belongs to him?