2 Corinthians 8:1-15 - Generosity In Giving

¹ Now, brethren, we want you to know about the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, ² for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. ³ For I testify that according to their ability, and even beyond their ability, they gave of their own free will, ⁴ urgently pleading with us for the privilege of sharing in the relief of the saints. ⁵ And they did not do as we expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. ⁶ So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, he would also complete in you this work of grace. ⁷ But as you excel in everythingin faith, in utterance, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in your love for ussee that you excel in this work of grace also.

⁸ I am not speaking this as a command, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich. ¹⁰ And in this matter I give my advice: it is best for you now to complete what a year ago you began not only to do but to desire. ¹¹ Now finish the work, so that your readiness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. ¹² For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he does not have. ¹³ For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; ¹⁴ but at the present time your abundance should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be equality. ¹⁵ As it is written, "He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack."