Tuesday after the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on September 20, 2022 by under
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:6-11 (NKJV)
9:6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 9 As it is written:
“He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.”
10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
Devotion
We confess together that there is not a fixed amount or percentage that is required of Christians to give for the benefit of the poor, or for the maintenance of the Church and its ministry. Do we find that we are reluctant givers in this regard? Especially as the storm clouds of a bad economy seem to be gathering, it can be hard to give away that which we have earned by the sweat of our brows.
However, we must all remember that nothing we have is truly our own–we are merely stewards of gifts that God has given us. God has promised to bless us richly when we are generous with those gifts toward others. Jesus tells us how fleeting treasure on earth is in His Sermon on the Mount: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:19,21).
We should not give because we fear that we will look bad, or because we want to do the bare minimum. We ought to give because we are genuinely thankful for what God has given us, and because we want to share that bounty with our brothers and sisters on earth.
Prayer: Keep, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual mercy; and, because the frailty of man without Thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by Thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
