Not Under Compulsion by Anonymous
Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:7-8)
Anyone who’s taken a teenager on vacation (or shopping, or to school, or anywhere) knows what “reluctantly or under compulsion” looks like. That scowl! That attitude! That clear desire to get away from you and be ANYWHERE else in the world! Ah yes, God our Father has experienced it too and likes it even less than we do.
Even when it is not outwardly obvious, God knows when our hearts are less than cheerful, when we are scowling on the inside. God has given us “every blessing in abundance” and in return asks for us to use those blessings -our time, our talent, and our financial resources- to glorify Him. When we lose sight of where those blessings came from and to whom they belong, it is easy to become angry or feel put out when we are asked to give them back. The thought of giving up something that is MINE, that I earned, that belongs to me, because someone at church tells me to…I don’t know about you, but I can feel that scowl hardening my heart. But it, whatever IT is, is NOT mine, it is not something that I earned, it does not belong to me – everything I have and everything I am comes from God. It is ALL His. And so, giving it back to Him, in the small quantities He requires, isn’t such a big deal after all.
Lord God, may our generosity and freely giving reflect Your heart and goodness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.