5. The Grace of God makes our giving part of the Christlike life
5. The Grace of God makes our giving part of the Christlike life
"See that you abound in this grace also, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor." (8:9) Every branch and leaf and blossom of the mightiest oak derives its life from the same strong root that bears the stem. The life in the tiniest bud is the same as in the strongest branch. We are branches in Christ the Living Vine; the very life that lived and worked in Him. Of what consequence that we should know well what His life is, that we may intelligently and willingly yield to it. Here we have one of its deepest roots laid open; "Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he become poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." To enrich and bless us, He impoverished Himself. That was why the widow's mite pleased Him so; her gift was of the same measure as His: "She cast in all she had." This is the life and grace that seeks to work in us; there is no other mold in which the Christ-life can be cast. "See that you abound in this grace also; for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, that he became poor." How little did the Macedonian Christians know that they were, in their deep poverty, and in the riches of their liberality, giving beyond their power, just acting out what the Spirit and grace of Jesus was working in them. How little we would have expected that the simple gift of these poor people would become the text of such high and holy and heart-searching teaching. How much we need to pray that the Holy Spirit may so master our purses and our possessions, that the grace of our giving will, in some truly recognizable degree, be the reflection of our Lord's. And how we need to bring our giving to the cross, and to seek Christ's death to the world and its possessions as the power for ours. So will we make others rich through our poverty, and our life be somewhat like St. Paul's: "poor, yet making many rich."