My First Priority

In 2 Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul shared the story of the church of Macedonia. These Christians might be the most unlikely group of givers in all of Scripture. Paul was collecting a financial gift to take to the poor Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, and the Macedonians had no cultural connection with the Jews. As far as society was concerned, these two groups of people were on the opposite sides of the cultural spectrum: different languages, different traditions, different lifestyles.

On top of this, the Macedonians were brand-new Christians. They hadn’t had much time to mature in their faith. To top it all off, the Macedonians were extremely poor. They barely had enough for themselves. It’s in the middle of these circumstances that something supernatural happened.

“In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people” (2 Corinthians 8:2–4 NIV).

These new Christians desperately wanted to give! Their hearts had been changed by the love of Christ, and the natural outworking of that change was the tangible giving of their money.

Paul stated it bluntly just a few verses later when he addressed the Corinthian church:

“But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others” (2 Corinthians 8:7–8 NIV).

Consider the implications of what Paul wrote. First, he said that these Corinthian Christians were growing spiritually in their knowledge and passion, but they had some work to do in this area of money. After serving as pastor of a church for years, I can testify that for most of us, the last thing to be born again in our lives is our wallet. The Corinthians had grown in a number of areas, but they hadn’t learned the grace of giving. Paul didn’t command them. Instead, he leveled with them. He said their generosity was an accurate test of the sincerity of their love.

Ouch.

In other words, the real evidence of genuine love is a generous life. You cannot claim to love God and then not practice radical generosity.

Why not? Because the purpose of God in the life of every believer is to make you more like himself. And God, at his very core and in the very essence of his nature, is not a taker. Unlike anyone else in the universe, God is purely and completely a giver! God trains us to be givers like him by providing for our needs and then teaching us to let go of what we have in order that we may bless others with it. This cycle of receiving and then releasing teaches our hearts to mirror his heart. When you follow God’s principles of generosity, the spell of money as my source is broken and the revelation of God as my source takes root.

When Paul explained the incredible heart change that had occurred among the Macedonian Christians, he wrote, “They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us” (2 Corinthians 8:5 NIV).

This is the first big step of faith that every believer must take if we want to mature in love. We must give first. Before you pay your mortgage, before you buy your groceries, before you save for retirement—you set aside money to give. In the eyes of our world, this concept sounds ludicrous. Giving can’t take precedence over food on the table—can it?

God teaches our hearts to trust him by commanding us to give first (Matthew 6:33). When I give last, after all my bills are paid and my needs are met, there is no faith involved in the transaction. But when I give first, before any of my needs are met, I am making a declaration to the world and to my own heart. My actions proclaim that God is my source, God is my safety, and God is my provider!