8 And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]. 9 As it is written, He [the benevolent person] scatters abroad; He gives to the poor; His deeds of justice and goodness and kindness and benevolence will go on and endure forever! 10 And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity]. 11 Thus you will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous, and [your generosity as it is] administered by us will bring forth thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinthians 9:8-11 [AMP]
My epiphany today was what the Lord laid on my heart in regard to what Paul is saying in most of this 9th chapter of Corinthians. What hit me was that I find myself creating structures or frameworks that ‘Giving’ must fit in -> Money, shelter, food, clothing, and any other physical commodity that you can think of…but what Paul is saying here is that God gives us an abundance of things to be generous with.
- Our Time
- Kindness
- Labor
- Empathy
- Compassion
- Encouragement
- etc.
In my life as a believer, I have been to quick to create channels of giving that if the ‘thing to give’ did not fit in that channel, then there was nothing to give. What Paul is saying is that there is really no boundary to the type of blessing that you can be generous with in ‘giving’…there is no channel, there is only an open table by which anything you have to give can be slid to the person in need. You might be reading this and thinking, “Ben, this is so elementary!”. You are probably right, but on my road to sanctification, I needed this today.