Scripture: Malachi 3:10; 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 and 9:6-15
“If we are not giving away our money in remarkable portions, we have not grasped (or we are not currently remembering) Christ’s generosity in saving us. Let’s put it even more starkly: you will always give effortlessly to that which is your salvation, to those things that give your life meaning. If Jesus is the one who saved, your money flows out easily into his work, his people, and his causes. If, however, your real religion is your appearance, your social status, your pleasure, and your security, your money flows most easily into those items and symbols . . . To give largely and liberally, not grudging at all times, requires a new heart – an old heart would rather part with its lifeblood than with its money.”
—Tim Keller
“The trouble with being rich is that since you can solve with your checkbook virtually all practical problems that bedevil ordinary people, you are left in your leisure with nothing but the great human problems to contend with: how to be happy, how to love and be loved, how to find meaning and purpose in your life. In desperation the rich are continually tempted to believe that they can solve these problems too with their checkbooks, which is presumably what led Jesus to remark one day that for a rich man to get to Heaven is about as easy for a Cadillac to get through a revolving door.”
—Frederick Buechner
“If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust his fullness, but who can drain a fountain? Myriads of spirits have drawn their supplies from him, and not one has murmured at the scantiness of his resources. Away, then, with this lying traitor unbelief, for his only errand is to cut the bond of communion and make us mourn an absent Savior!”
—Charles Spurgeon
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