Wednesday after the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 4, 2023 by under
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 (NKJV)
8:1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. 3 For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, 4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. 6 So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. 7 But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.
8 I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence 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, that you through His poverty might become rich.
Devotion
St. Paul wrote of the churches of Macedonia that their faithful generosity was of such a character that “according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.” This faithfulness was according to the grace of God which had been bestowed upon them; that is, their generosity was according to that which the Lord worked within them as a fruit of the faith which the Lord had established and sustained within them.
The faithfulness of the saints toward their brethren is a fruit of that which trusts in the Lord for all things; in St. Paul’s words: “And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.” Faith does not ask the faithless question of the lawyer: “Who is my neighbor?”; instead, faith sees the need—beginning with the household of God—and provides as the Lord has granted us the means to do so.
Prayer: Lord, we beseech Thee, grant Thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow Thee, the only God; 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.
