Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 14, No. 32
Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours immeasurably from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to another week in December 2025. My prayer is that God will fill your heart with overflowing joy all through the week, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
As we begin this new week, I want to encourage you with these words from Paul to the Corinthian church: “But just as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us-see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” (2Cor 8:7NIV)
Did you see that? Paul wanted the Corinthian brethren to be outstanding in generosity, as they had been outstanding in faith, knowledge, eagerness and love. Why? First, it was because it was the will of God for them to be so. Second, it must have been because they had been behind other churches of God at the time in generosity.
Third, it was because he did not want them to miss the benefits of being generous.Now are there actually benefits to being generous? Yes! And one of them is that it can cause people to stand up for you, when you least expect it.
For instance, the bible tells us of a time that some Jewish leaders went to plead with Jesus to come and heal the servant of a Roman centurion. Why did they rise up to speak for this man, even though he was a gentile? The reason was that the man was outstanding in his generosity to them. He built a synagogue for them. So, they could not just sit down and watch him lose a servant that was dear to him. And did Jesus listen to them or not? He did. (Cf. Luke 7:1-10)
Also, we are told in the bible of a woman called Dorcas and of how she fell ill and died. And did members of her church just accept her death as from the Lord? No! Instead, they sent some of them to go and bring Peter to pray for her.
Why? The reason was that she was outstanding in generosity. She had helped many people in the church, especially the widows, before her death. And did Peter answer their call or not? He did. So, Dorcas was brought back to life to continue to live to be a blessing to the people around her. (Cf. Acts 9:36-43)
In like manner, there are times that we are shocked to see some servants of God leave everything they are doing to go and pray for some people or to attend their ceremonies. Some of us may even think of that as irresponsible or a display of favouritism.
But it is usually the generosity of those involved that is responsible for what we see. And don’t we also take seriously those who are generous to us? Don’t we even sometimes leave everything we are doing just to help them or do something that will make them happy?You can see, then, that it pays to be outstanding in generosity.
So, don’t let your generosity to people, especially the people of God, be an occasional thing. Rather, let it be something everyone around you will know you for. And one day, when you least expect it, it will cause some people to rise up to favour you.
Have a splendid week.
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