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

Friday, May 22, 2015

#2Corinthians9 - Gratitude breeds Generosity

Click here to read 2 Corinthians 9:

1. What stood out to me from this chapter?

I think it's amazing to think about how fast rabbits can multiply. The average gestation period for a rabbit is 28-31 days, and a rabbit can have anywhere from 1-14 babies (although the conservative average is around 6). That means a rabbit can have 72 babies a year! But then those rabbits can eventually have more rabbits, and the cycle is multiplied. In this chapter, Paul seems to share with us that gratitude is both the origin and the result of generosity. When we think about God's gracious gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, and the magnitude of what he gave to us sinks in, our only real response is to in turn be thankful to God and be generous toward others. But when we are generous toward others, it results in their gratefulness to God (when it "accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ). Pretty soon it becomes a wonderful cycle of generosity breeding gratitude breeding more generosity, and so on.

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

In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus encourages his listeners not to worry about what they will eat or drink or what they will wear. He tells them not to worry about storing up earthly possessions, rather that God would provide everything we need. I think fear of not having enough is something that keeps a lot of people from being more generous. But here in 2 Corinthians 9, Paul reaffirms that God will provide for the needs of the giver.

3. What does this mean for my life?

One of my biggest takeaways from this chapter is that giving to God and to others is not meant to be a guilt trip or pressure sale. God wants us to understand his generosity and then joyfully reflect that generosity in our giving. Even though we do plan to give generously each month/year, I still have that lingering question in my mind, "Should we be doing this? Will we have enough?" Although it's not guilt or pressure that motivates our giving, I still need to remember to give joyfully.

4. What questions do I have about this passage?

If you're not careful, you could read this passage and think that if you give, say, $10 that God will bless you with $20 or $100. There are some churches that teach a philosophy similar to this, which I think is both biblically inaccurate and creating a greedy motivation for giving which manipulates people to give. But what exactly does Paul mean when he talks about God "increasing our store of seed and enlarging our harvest?"

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.duncanusherphotography.com/filestore/animals/baby_rabbits__282.jpg

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