Eggs

2 Corinthians 8:1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

A dusty Honduran hillside full of cusachas (tin and cardboard shanties) and gringos sharing the Gospel. One of my favorite settings and views in all of the World. The rules are few: Pray , follow God, share the Gospel and after that is done take food hidden in your backpacks and bless the house that received you. (It is amazing how not having a script and schedule freaks people out). On a summer trip a few years back, I had a weird thing happen. After spending the better part of four hours working our way up, and then down a sparsely populated hillside, I was met with a gift. The lady of one of the houses we met with held out a bag of eggs and said that she wanted to bless us with them. My mind immediately began to race as to why would she give away precious food when she has so little. My flesh thought " if only she could see my house or bank balance, she would see that I have no need for the eggs". Have you ever noticed how deceiving the flesh can be? After about ten minutes of politely trying to tell her that I appreciated the thought, but I desired for her to keep her eggs, her insistence to give grew stronger. Capitulating after some soul searching to understand that she wanted to bless us, I grabbed the eggs, blessed her, and headed down the hill. As I neared the bottom I met another dear lady with another bag of eggs. I had learned my lesson, accepted her grace and blessed her before we headed back to the bus. As I sat on the bus, a myriad of emotions overcame me. I wanted to cry as these impoverished people had given me a gift out of their poor wealth, yet large heart. I thought I was the one who was the fragrance of Christ doing evangelism on the hillside, yet they were teaching me about grace. The Kingdom works just like that: Grace produces even more grace.

When you look at what Paul is saying to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians above, he is urging them to look at what happened to the Churches of Macedonia when they gave exceedingly and freely out of their extreme poverty. Grace exploded. By their sacrifice God was glorified (2 Corinthians 9:13) and they experienced the favor of God more richly as they sowed richly into the field of the love of Christ. In short, they were willing to give away money and stuff to experience God more deeply. How did this happen? Verse 5 above tells us that it was not because Paul told them to. They did it because they gave themselves to God first and He led them in this unbelievable act of Grace. It was an overflow of their exaltation of Christ. Not man made guilt, but God led Grace brought glory to God, supplied needed food for the hungry and allowed those who gave Joyfully to enjoy God deeper. That is How Jesus works into and through us as faithful followers.

Verse 4 gives me pause. They begged Paul to feed fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Why? It was the right thing to do of course, but there is a stronger undercurrent at work. They realized that the body of Christ was starving, literally. We don't think this way too much do we? I mean right now there are Christians dying of starvation, dehydration and preventable diseases around the world and do we care? I am troubled about my own level of concern. I mean, if we don't care about the body of Christ, we are in bad shape spiritually.

Christ tells us, shows us, empowers us, commands us and allows us to give ourselves away for His Glory. Our flesh works at every angle to cling to what is "Ours". It is a battle that is raging in my life. I love to give. I love receiving God's grace. Christ is teaching me through eggs and His Word that His Grace is way better than "my" stuff (as if it was really mine).

Where are you in this picture? Do you give? Do you give to get back something other than God? Have you ever begged to serve the Global Body of Christ with your money? Your time?

If not, your definition of grace will be a sentence that you memorized in Sunday School when you were a child, not an abiding rich walk with Christ. Christ invites the faithful to something much lovelier than stuff, he offers a deeper dose of Himself. the big question is what do you and I want more?