A Cheerful Giver
SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 
Read the passage
BIO: My name is John Watts. I’m the Church Business Administrator here at First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. I’ve been here at FPCO, in this role, for 15 months now. What a blessing it has been. Our entire family (me, my wife-Mary, daughters-Carrie and Christin, son-Zac and his fiancée-Amy) all joined FPCO this past December.
Mary and I were part of a Turbo LIFE Community Group, and we are now leading a LIFE Community Group. We are so thankful to have such a wonderful group of people with whom to share our lives through FPCO. I highly encourage everyone to consider being in community with others through a LIFE Community Group at FPCO, and I pray that God would lead you to the group of people He has planned for you.
The Watts family is in a time of transition. Mary’s a nurse and teaches nursing. She just changed jobs and is back at Florida Hospital, teaching nursing again this fall. Zac and his fiancée, Amy will be married in the Chapel this October. Carrie just graduated from Lake Mary High School and has started classes this summer at Full Sail University. Christin completed coursework at Seminole State College and received her AA degree and starts at UCF as a Junior this August. We will be empty nesters in a few weeks. Please pray for us in this transition and especially for me as I adjust to life without Daddy’s little girls around the house.
KEY VERSE: 2 Corinthians 9:7 "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
CENTRAL TRUTH: God wants us to be cheerful givers of our resources, and experience the joy that comes from being obedient and serving God and others. So often we think of this passage as dealing with monetary resources. Although it does include giving financially, it is only one of the resources that we are to give. When we give cheerfully of our time, energy, and money, we honor God and show others that we are joyfully serving God by using the gifts and resources with which He has blessed us.
DEVOTIONAL: A Cheerful Giver
The verses that precede verse 7, which talks about a "cheerful giver", emphasizes the willingness to give using the agricultural metaphor of reaping and sowing. How we give and how we approach giving is important. If we approach giving with a spirit of obedience, joy, willingness, and generosity, we will reap, or receive, in a likewise fashion. This does not mean that if we generously serve others or give generously in financial terms that we will receive abundance in material wealth. What we will receive is the joy of giving generously as God has directed.
Verse 8 provides more clarity on what God promises to a cheerful giver. It says that "God is able to make all grace abound (to occur in great quantities) to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." So, by generously giving of what God has given to us, we will reap generously in God’s grace, having all we need, and we will be blessed with good work for God’s kingdom in great quantities. I don’t know about you, but I can use all the grace from God I can get and I’m comforted in the fact that He will provide for my needs and do good work through me when I give generously and in a cheerful manner.
QUESTION 1: Am I a cheerful giver? Do I feel the joy and closeness to God as I give willingly and cheerfully using the gifts and resources He has given me?
QUESTION 2: As a steward of all that God has given me, do I give grudgingly or do I give hoping to receive material benefits in return?
QUESTION 3: Do I give generously fully expecting the promised abundance of grace from God and knowing He will meet my every need?
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