He is Able to Make All Grace Abound

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you,
that you, always having all sufficiency in all things,
may have an abundance for every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8, NKJV

 God is a giver. If we don't understand anything else about God, we need to get that. God is a giver. He gave us His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. He loves us, and knows how to give good gifts to His children. The Bible goes so far as to say that if He did not spare His only Son, what more will He withhold from us. Which is why the Bible tells us to ask Him for the things we need, and even the things that we want. In His will, in His time, He will give us every good and perfect gift.

God is a giver, and He modeled it very well for us throughout the entirety of Scripture. From the sacrifice that provided skins for Adam and Eve to the ark of safety that preserved humanity in eight souls; from Noah's rainbow to the ram caught in a thicket, prepared there to be a substitute for Isaac. God gave bread and meat and water and shelter and strength to Israel in the wilderness, and then He gave them the Promised Land. He gave the cities into their hands, and houses and crops and wells and riches. He gave them a king when they cried out for one. He gave them His word, His covenants, His promises. He gave them hope and a future. He gave them the Law first, and then the Gospel first. As I said before, He gave His Son Jesus Christ as the ultimate gift.

God is a giver, and He has demonstrated it multiple times in my own life. Not that I have ever truly been in need, as in destitute, starving, homeless or helpless, but there have been times when I needed something from God. I needed a new pair of glasses one time and couldn't afford them. That week, a refund came in the mail that I never even expected. One day I was praying the Lord's Prayer and asked for "daily bread"...not that I was without food, but I was just wondering if God was truly going to meet all my needs. When I walked out to the mailbox that morning, there was a ham and cheese sandwich laying in there...which I thanked God for and ate. No kidding! God has recently provided enough cashflow into my pocket to take the place of a second job...and if I need a third, He is also able to supply that. Over and over and over again, God has provided so many wonderful things in my life. Because He is a giver.

He also wants me to be a giver. This beautiful verse about making all grace--all gifts and favor--abound toward me falls in the middle of Paul's great treatise on New Testament giving. People want to point to the Old Testament and say that tithing was for the Law, and that now we are not bound by the law to give ten percent. I would agree. Now we are bound by a covenant with Christ to give God our all, everything that we have. So that if God tells us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor, we should do it. If we see our brother in need and have it in our hand to help, we have the responsibility to give. If we are nourished spiritually through the ministry of someone else, we should also share physical nourishment with them. Under the Law, you only had to give the tithe in various forms. Under grace, you may have to give it all away. So I always tell people...tithing is a good place to start.

You see, God wants His people to be generous. He wants His people to give. He wants His people to do good to others. And God, who is able to make all grace abound toward us, will give us everything we need to do everything He wants us to do, so that there is no lack anywhere, and we will have more than enough to do as He asks.