Greeting

Welcome to Dan's Daily Dig, a personal journey to dig into the Bible one chapter a day and grow spiritually. The goal is to read and reflect on each chapter using the following four questions:

1. What stood out to me from this chapter?
2. How does this relate to any other Scripture I know?
3. What does this mean for my life?
4. What questions do I have about this passage?

This blog is intended to provide both accountability for me to keep pressing on in this quest, and an invitation for any reader to join me any day or everyday. Simply read the selected chapter (it only takes about 5 minutes), and then respond using any or all of the four questions. It's supposed to be simple, but I hope to learn from others as well. I plan to share the blog as well on my twitter feed daily, so follow @DanBoji if you want to get the alert to the blog's posting. You can also subscribe by e-mail or another RSS feed on the right side of the screen. God's blessings.

In Christ,
Dan

Thursday, May 21, 2015

#2Corinthians7 #2Corinthians8 - Passing the Plate

Click here to read 2 Corinthians 7-8:

1. What stood out to me from this chapter?

You know the expression, "Curiosity killed the cat?" After reading chapter 8, I thought of this modification, "Generosity killed the greed." Paul is encouraging the people of Corinth to include generous giving as way of rounding off and completing their faith development. This is not a shameful, guilt-ridden message to pry the money from their hands. Nor is it a begging or pleading for money for a personal project. He is not passing the plate and pressuring anyone. He is asking them to think of the needs of the believers in Jerusalem who were trying desperately to provide for the poor, orphans, and widows with very little. By giving financially, we are breaking the chains of greed that are easy to be had in our society. We're all so afraid of having enough money that we hoard it (even though many of us spend it on unnecessary things). Giving is a blessing to the giver and the recipient when done in love. Paul wants them (and us) to experience this blessing.

2. How does this relate to any other Scripture I know?

Jesus also talked a lot about giving and being generous. In fact, he talked about money a lot. One of the passages that comes to my mind is from the sermon on the mount in Matthew 6. He says that we shouldn't give so that everyone can see our gift and be impressed with it, we should give almost secretly so that God sees it. He even says we should not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. I always take that to mean that giving should become so natural that we almost don't even think twice about it. We should plan our giving, but not think twice about it. :)

3. What does this mean for my life?

One of the verses in chapter 7 that really hit me was verse 10. "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." I love this passage, because it shows that when we feel guilty because of sin, it is from God. But His desire is then that the guilt would remind us to repent and change our ways to experience God's plan for life and freedom. He doesn't want us to remain in the guilty feeling for long. That is what the devil would want for us, to steal the joy.

4. What questions do I have about this passage?

In chapter 8 verse 13-15, it almost sounds like Paul is advocating for a sort of communism within the church. That everyone should have the same. I realize this is an overstatement, but to what extent is it true?

Those are my thoughts for this chapter. I'd love to hear yours. God's blessings to you and KEEP DIGGING IN!

In Christ,
Dan

image from http://www.alanknox.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/offering-plate.jpg

1 comment:

  1. I think giving is such an important thing in the church, yet widely misunderstood today. WE should give freely and joyfully (v. 3) but we shouldn't go into debt for the sake of giving (v. 12) - although we should be wise enough with budgeting our money that we make sure that we give our first fruits. When people give in God's way, He really truly does provide in crazy amazing ways!

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