Paul in Macedonia: Giving Freely to the Lord’s People

¹And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given to the churches in Macedonia.

²They were going through a great trial, but they were still overflowing with joy, so that even though they were very poor, they gave generously.

³I assure you that they gave as much as they could. They gave even more than they could spare. Completely on their own,

⁴they begged us for the privilege of serving the Lord’s people by sharing with them in that way.

⁵They did more than we expected. First they gave themselves to the Lord, and then they gave themselves to us by the will of God.

⁶Titus has already started collecting money from you, so we’ve asked him to help you finish making your kind gift.

⁷Since you do so well in everything else—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in eagerness, and in the love we taught you—make sure that you also do well in the grace of giving to others.

⁸I’m not commanding you to do this. But I do want to challenge you to show how sincere your love is compared with the eagerness of others.

⁹You know how generous our Lord Jesus Christ was. Even though he was rich, he became poor for your sake, so that because he became poor, you would become rich.

¹⁰Here’s what I think would be the best thing for you to do. Last year you were the first ones to give, and you were even the first ones to want to give.

¹¹So finish the work. Then the desire you had to do it will be matched by the way you’ve finished it. Give based on how much you have.

¹²Do you really want to give? Then your gift will be measured by what you have, not by what you don’t.

¹³We don’t want others to have it easy while you are burdened. We want things to be fair.

¹⁴Right now you’re well off and you can help others with what they need. Later on they’ll be well off and they’ll be able to help you. That will make things fair for everyone.

¹⁵It is written, “The one who gathered a lot didn’t have too much, and the one who gathered a little had enough.”

¹⁶Titus has the same concern for you that I do. I thank God for putting that in his heart.

¹⁷When we asked Titus to go and help you, he agreed eagerly. It was what he wanted to do himself.

¹⁸Along with Titus, we’re sending another brother. He’s someone all the churches respect for what he has done for the good news.

¹⁹The churches chose him to come along with us as we collect the offering and bring it to Jerusalem. We’re carrying out this work because we want to honor the Lord and show how ready we are to help.

²⁰We don’t want anyone to have any reason to criticize how we’re taking care of this generous gift.

²¹So we’re trying hard to do what both the Lord and people will see as right.

²²We’re also sending another one of our brothers with these two. This man has often proved to us in many ways how committed he is. He’s even more committed now because he has great confidence in you.

²³Titus is my helper, and he and I work together among you; our brothers are messengers from the churches who honor Christ.

²⁴So show them and all the churches how much you love others and why we’re so proud of you.