Wednesday: Attitude
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 9th of September 2026
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Read 2 Corinthians 8:1-5. What possible reason could have been behind the Macedonians’ willingness to give their offerings with such generosity? |
The positive attitude of the Macedonians can be seen in several ways.
First, they gave with abundant joy (2 Corinthians 8:2). Paul says that the Macedonians’ “abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity” (2 Corinthians 8:2, ESV). He later mentions that “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7, NKJV). The Greek word rendered as “cheerful” occurs only here in the New Testament. A term from the same family occurs elsewhere: “The one who does acts of mercy [must do it] with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:8, ESV). Terms from this word family sometimes appear in extra-biblical literature, with a sense of gladness and happiness. In 2 Corinthians 9:7, being a cheerful giver means giving without reluctance.
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Second, they gave with generosity (2 Corinthians 8:2). Before Paul mentioned the Macedonians’ generosity, he first referred to their “extreme poverty” (ESV). The word “generosity” (in Greek, haplotētos) appears twice more in 2 Corinthians 8:1-24 and 9. Paul says, “You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” (2 Corinthians 9:11, NIV; emphasis supplied), meaning that we are given so that we can then give. A little further, he mentions “the generosity of your contribution” (2 Corinthians 9:13, ESV; emphasis supplied). In this passage, being generous in contributing is a way of confessing Christ’s gospel.
Third, they gave “of their own free will” (2 Corinthians 8:3, NLT). This means that they gave voluntarily. This becomes even more admirable when one sees they did not give out of their surplus, for their resources were extremely limited. Paul uses the same idea to characterize Titus’s willingness to visit the Corinthians. He went to Corinth voluntarily (2 Corinthians 8:17).
Fourth, they gave with a sense that giving is a privilege (2 Corinthians 8:4). This attitude is perceptible in the Macedonians’ request to participate in the collection. “They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service” (2 Corinthians 8:4, NIV).
Finally, they participated in the collection as an act of total consecration (2 Corinthians 8:5). Paul says, “They gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us” (2 Corinthians 8:5, ESV). Giving oneself to the Lord results in giving oneself to others. The Macedonians expanded their mission involvement beyond financial assistance. That is, giving and being generous is not limited to money alone.
When my daughter was little and played with dolls, Carmel and I made a doll’s four-poster bed. I made the frame out of wood, and a foam mattress. Carmel made the bed-linen and the curtains to go around the sides. We gave it to her, all wrapped up in pretty paper. The look on her face when she unwrapped it was priceless. Nearly 50 years later she still reminds us how much she appreciated the hand-made doll’s bed. Of course, her joy has given us a lot of joy too. Nowadays, I still like to give hand-crafted gifts. I make birthday, anniversary, sympathy, congratulation and Christmas cards, using my photographs and writing my own message inside the cards. I do it joyfully because I know the recipient appreciates the effort that goes into making a personal card. It has something more that a card purchased from Hallmark will ever have.
Here is something to think about in the context of today’s lesson about giving joyfully. A lot of so-called charity is given impersonally. You donate $50 to ADRA but you do not have anything to do with the recipient of that charity. There is nothing wrong with that. Most of us are not going to go to Sudan and install water pumps, so we need to donate to the charities that do that sort of work for us. However, personal involvement with charities brings a special joy that anonymous giving misses.
The really special thing about salvation is that God did not save us by proxy. God became one of us. This was not a remote donation from heaven, It was a gift with personal involvement; hand-crafted salvation, using the illustration above. Our very best charity will also involve the personal touch. We need to listen to the prayers of those around us, Maybe the Holy Spirit is providing us with opportunities to share our love with someone near to us. It is also a reminder that our most precious charity has little to do with money.
Maurice I agree with you.Even the most expensive gift in the world is worthless if it was not given out of love.
You could get a gift from dollar tree & appreciate it more if there was that personal touch from the giver. I love what you said that God did not save us by proxy, he became us. Salvation is a truly a blessing to all of us.
“They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.” (2 Corinthians 8:2,NLT)
Often, the Bible is rich in surprises. The Macedonian believers were in “great trial of affliction” and “deep poverty” (2 Cor. 8:2, KJV), and yet gave with extraordinary generosity. This is directly opposite of the assumption that the abundance of material wealth leads to generosity. This episode amplifies the point that giving and sharing are the domain of the heart. It is worthwhile to note that the Macedonian churches were dominantly Gentile and were of recent converts to Christianity. This once again amplifies the fact that “our money will follow where our heart is”. Our attitude towards giving and sharing is not influenced by the outflow of our abundance, but by the outflow of our heart.
Paul is using the Macedonian believers as a point of reference to stimulate the giving spirit of the Corinthian believers. The Macedonian believers were not throwing their money/materials away. They were giving because human beings were in serious need – believers in Jerusalem were in desperate need. The Macedonian Christians saw people who needed help. They valued people more than losing their money/materials. The moment we see people in need and value them more than our possessions, our giving and sharing will improve exponentially. The spirit of giving and sharing is a true spirit of humanity. This is the Spirit of God.
“For you are recognizing [more clearly] the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [His astonishing kindness, His generosity, His gracious favor], that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich (abundantly blessed).” (2 Corinthians 8:9, AMP).
Our attitude in giving is more important than what we give; generosity is not measured by the size of the gift, but by the sacrifice behind it. God is not calling us to give equal gifts, but to make equal sacrifices, for in God’s economy, the heart behind the gift matters more than its amount. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus says, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.” Like the Pharisees, we cn easily become preoccupied with giving the correct amount while overlooking the attitude of our hearts besides obedience that should motivate our giving. As Howard Dayton puts it, “Christ looks beyond the amount of the gift to the heart of the giver.” The Macedonians, therefore, provide a powerful illustration of what God desires in our giving: they first gave themselves to God and then their gifts, offering them with gladness as an expression of willing obedience. They sought God until they found Him, listened for His voice, and gave as He directed. Their example reminds us that true generosity begins not with what is in our hands, but with whose hands our hearts belong to. When the heart is fully surrendered to God, giving becomes more than an obligation—it becomes an act of worship, obedience, and joyful sacrifice.
Hi people
When ken and I were caretaking at Ankara SDA church campsite on the Murray River in South Oz, I purchased plain greeting cards with local photography glued inside.
The local shop sold them for a local photographer. Inside the cards, I sent an invitation to …come apart and rest awhile…to Avondale people past and present and other friends.
Surprisingly…the uninvited turned up. They heard about the offer through the grapevine. Some were angels, some were barely acceptable. A couple were homeless. Great lesson for us in the art of hospitality. Also a window into the kind of people who were open to the gospel.
Reneanne Anderson
Two years ago my niece kindly offered me a place to stay with her and her family. It came ‘out of the blue’ but we know that God had a hand in the offer. I in turn was impressed to offer to prepare the family’s food on a daily basis, excluding weekends. They are not a praying family and she clearly stated to me that she doesn’t believe in the Bible but she believes in God.
That said, she encourages her children to go to church with me and they have done so on a few occasions, we pray for them daily and believe through the Holy Spirit they will become part of the family of God, 1 John 3:18 and James 1:22.
I believe God has put me here for a reason and may I ask that you please keep us in your prayers.
My brothers and sisters in Jesus, I confess, that I am not a generous person, however, I would hate to think that I am mean.
Reading 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 was an absolutely moving experience. Verse 2 both in form and substance is unforgettably potent – “In the midst of a very severe trial their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” 2 Corinthians 8:2 NIV.
I read the above verse with immense fascination. Even my background in psychology that at times kicks in to analyze; stood still. Verses 3,4, and the first part of verse 5 “blew my mind” What kind of human beings are these people? How did they achieve such a mind set?
Thanks be to God ; the latter part of verse 5 provided the answer.” :…They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.” 2 Corinthians 8:5 NIV.
What a quiet joy it is for me to realize that as I give myself to Him that He can make me a generous person; even as amazingly, as the Christians in Macedonia.
On another mission trip we went on from our Corona CA church, it was not what we did for them but what they did for us that was so amazing. Our church went to Fiji to build a worship chapel and repair school dorms.
Our clue to what was to happen later in the week began with what felt like a triumphal entry in route to the town. It began miles from the town that we were headed to. As we progressed along the dirt hwy, each house or small villiage we passed by, it seemed that every person alive was standing outside waving in enthusiastic welcome. I had never seen anything like this on all the mission trips I had been on.
This was a precurser to the general welcoming/grateful/loving attitude the Fijian people displayed to us throughout the week. This hospitality/affection culminated on Thursday evening. As our work on the worship chapel neared completion, the town threw us a party. This came cpmplete with all their children putting on a show for us which was followed by a feast that one could not imagine was possible coming from this very poor village. I can only guess by the size and the variety of what was served that the shelves in every house in the villiage were bare. It literally brought tears to my eyes thinking about that. Not one of the people in the village got up to partake of the feast until all of our group had passed through. It was one of the most generous displays I have ever witnessed. They literally gave it their all to entertain and feed their guests.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story, Jim Williams.
Blessings!
What a blessing that must have been for the poor, faithful local people to have a new chapel and dormitory provided by faithful missionaries. It was a blessing to give to them and for them it was a blessing to receive and their response was to bless the givers by emptying their cupboards.
God loves a cheerful giver.
When I was a graduate student at Michigan State University, one of the ladies at the church I attended invited all university students to her home, once per month, for lunch after the church service ended. I felt blessed to be able to relax, fellowship and get a good meal once per month after church ended. I was so impressed with this act of kindness that I purposed in my mind that I will do the same for other students when I graduated.
Fast-forward to 2002. I moved to Columbus Ohio and I asked God to lead me to live in a house that will allow me to extend the same hospitality to university students. This is one of my ministries, to open my doors to students. All students. I will not pick and choose who should and who should not come. All are invited.
I am not relating this to boast, but to encourage others to use whatever God has given you to bless others.
2 Corinthians 8:1-5.
Seems as though I am using the same 5 texts for attitude as I was for motivation. The author had a little different angle, he used verses 1 and 5 for motivation, and then jumping into 2 Corinthians 9:7, 9, 13, and 15. Oh well the author is the theologian and I am an amateur theologian.
Having said that, attitude of the Macedonians was this: Even though we are without much extra means we will give glory to God in our giving. Their giving was most likely a sacrifice for them. Yes, many times for us. For attitude we go to the even verses 2 Corinthians 8:2, 4 with joy, generosity, and a sense that giving is a privilege. We also get their attitude out of the odd numbers, 2 Corinthians 8:3, and 5, gave of free will, and gave after consecration to the Lord.
I wanted to get a clearer understanding of,
2 Corinthians 8:5, so I turned to my digital paid for copy of The Clear Word.
“This is more than we had hoped for. First, they gave their hearts to the Lord all over again, and then they gave what they had for the believers in Israel. This kind of love is what God likes to see.” Mmmmm, all over again, is that not what we do as we die daily to Christ? I do believe so. 1 Corinthians 15:31.
Now to give me a expounded understanding of their consecration to the Lord. I go back to Steps to Christ, chapter 5 on consecration, and digested it once again.
https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p108.180&index=0
Those that have freely received are often those that freely give. Truth be told, we have all freely received of Christ’s sacrifice. We need to have the mind (mindset, attitude) of Christ. (Phil. 2:5) Total disinterested in self, benevolence towards others. This alone should affect our attitude towards giving.
While reading the part about Wednesday’s attitude toward giving, I remembered that when I was an adolescent, my father and other church members decided to build an extra room for the children’s class. They made a promise to God, and for three weeks he gave his salary to help with the construction. I was a little worried because we were recovering from a car accident we didn’t have much money. He could have said no and given reasons for not cooperating, but he participated with joy. He chose to participate of his own free will, and I can say that God supplied everything in our house. God’s promises are always on time. Generosity with love is what God likes. Never expecting to get something from others, give to others of your own free will, and with abundant joy. It is a pleasure that doesn’t need explaining. Let’s remember, “from his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another” (John 1:16, NIV). The Macedonian followers weren’t rich, but they gave and helped others with joy because they recognized that salvation was found in no one else or something else, only in Jesus, by whom we will be saved.
Giving is not only about money. Giving can be in the form of time, talents, influence, and personality. Again, God does not need our money, but since money can be transformed into almost anything, we must learn to detach from it, as we can replace God Himself with it.
WOW! Brief but loaded.