[Biblemat] A) BEYOND YOUR ABILITY

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Wednesday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here is an article from my files:

BEYOND YOUR ABILITY

     The story is told of a lawyer and businessman who were
making a tour of a foreign land and were being guided by a
missionary, who also served as their interpreter.  "That's an
odd picture.  I suppose they are terribly poor," the business-
man said, pointing to some workers in a field.

     "That's the family of ChiNou," the guide answered.  "When
the church building was being erected they were eager to give but had no 
money.  So they sold the one ox they had and give the money.  This spring they are 
pulling the plow
themselves."

     For several moments there was an uneasy silence.  Finally
the businessman spoke: "That must have been a real sacri-
fice."

     "No, they didn't call it a sacrifice," said the preacher.  "They thought 
it was fortunate they had an ox to sell."

     The apostle Paul wrote about the brethren in Macedonia:
"that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy 
and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberali-
ty.  For I bear witness 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 fellow-
ship of the ministering to the saints.  And not only as we had
hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then 
to us by the will of God" (2 Cor. 8:2-5).  Paul was using the 
Macedonian brethren to inspire the Corinthian brethren to 
give toward the needy saints in Judea.

     God speaking through an apostle encouraged His children
to give by letting them see the diligence of others who gave
toward His work.  He didn't want to command them to give
but rather touch the sincerity of love that was in their hearts
which would move them to give (2 Cor. 8:8).  

     There are some principles that are given in God's word
that will help us in our giving to His work.  We are guided to
give as we are prospered (1 Cor. 16:2), to give according to
what we have (2 Cor. 8:12), to give generously, bountifully,
purposefully, cheerfully and not grudgingly or of necessity
(2 Cor. 9:5-7).  In the New Testament, the Lord does not de-
signate an amount as He did in the Old Testament.  Surely,
ten percent if at all possible would be a good starting point
(Heb. 7:2).  

     Have you evaluated your giving?  Based on the Biblical
principles listed above, we all need to sit down and consider
what we put in the offering plate each Sunday, and what we
do to help with special requests for help.  If the followers of
Christ in the illustration above did not think selling their ox
was a sacrifice -- what do you think would have been a sacri-
fice for them?

     We may not know the answer to that question, but we do
know that most of us have not come close to that kind of giv-
ing.  May God help us to be givers who give beyond our abili-
ty!  (Thanks to Don Truex for the illustration on giving an ox)
----------- Ron Drumm.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.biblematters.net/pipermail/biblemat/attachments/20070228/592f7804/attachment-0001.html