Great Is His FaithfulnessSample

Day 5: God Is Faithful to Make All Grace Abound to You

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

God makes this astounding promise to those who wish to become truly rich.

To be rich is to have a wealth of resources at your disposal to pursue what you believe will make you most satisfied and fulfilled now and into the foreseeable future. To become rich, first, you must understand what kind of wealth you’re pursuing and how the economy functions that generates this wealth. Second, you must wisely invest in that economy, whether you’re pursuing wealth in the world’s economy or God’s economy.

The world is full of counsel on how to use its economies to accumulate money and benefit from what it can do for you. But God’s economy functions very differently from the world’s, and if you want to benefit from what God can do for you, you must look to the Bible.

In 2 Corinthians 8–9, Paul describes how God’s beautiful economy of generous grace works to produce a wealth of joy, gratitude, faith, and “all sufficiency [for all saints] in all things at all times [for] every good work.”

First, he points to the example of the Macedonian Christians, who, though living in “extreme poverty,” experienced an “abundance of joy” in their salvation, which “overflowed in a wealth of generosity” in their contribution to the poor in Jerusalem (2 Cor. 8:2). Then Paul points to the example of Jesus, who, “though he was rich, yet for [their] sake he became poor, so that [they] by his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).

Here’s how the divine economic cycle works. When we receive God’s free, generous grace, it produces joy in us. This joy in freely receiving God’s grace moves us to generously give grace to others. Our generosity “is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God” (2 Cor. 9:12). This puts us in the position of trusting him to supply all our needs (Phil. 4:19), which he does in ways that increase our faith and multiply more thanksgivings to God. But as with any economy, the size of our return depends on the size of our investment: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6). Each person is free to “give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7).

If we trust in God and invest generously in his economy by giving to meet the needs of others, then “he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will [faithfully] supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God” (2 Cor. 9:10–11).

That’s how we become truly rich. In God’s economy of grace, generous giving to meet the needs of others is the investment that produces the return of increased joy, gratitude, and faith—for ourselves and others. And if we’re willing to make this investment, God promises to faithfully make all his grace abound to us so we will have all sufficiency in all things at all times for every good work he gives us to do.

Prayer

Father, thank you for this truly astounding promise: you are “able to make all grace abound to [me], so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, [I] may abound in every good work.” Because I want to be truly rich—rich in joy (Ps. 16:11), “abounding in thanksgiving” (Col. 2:7), “rich in faith” (James 2:5), and “rich in good works” (1 Tim. 6:18)—give me faith to invest in your economy of grace that I may be “enriched in every way to be generous in every way.” In Jesus’ name, amen.

Meditate More

Read 2 Corinthians 9.