Meditations on 2 Corinthians 8:5, “And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.”

Starving Christians in Judea needed money to survive and Paul was encouraging the Corinthian saints in both the first and second letters to step up and help. While doing so he uses the Macedonian Christians as an example and so we have this very revealing statement about the Macedonian’s core value, “they first gave themselves to the Lord.”

It is at the heart of who we are and all we ever will become. If we do not begin with self-surrender to God nothing else will matter. We can throw money at problems, we can give ourselves wholly to any and all earthly relationships, we can achieve all kinds of accolades; but without surrendering to God what will they mean?

It is such a simple statement, “they first gave themselves to the Lord.” But meditate on all it encompasses and let it describe you today. – Joe