“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8
We live in a world of opportunity cost. There isn’t enough to go around, which means that for every need that is met, countless others have to give. I quite remember as a child, we didn’t have much as a family, which meant that every child had to make a very strong case for why a particular need had to be met first. The world itself operates on this same principle. Economists and Business leaders have made careers for themselves by teaching others how to prioritise and choose the best possible option from myriad opportunities. According to them, our ability to prioritise and choose the best option among thousands of opportunities will determine productivity and the best utilisation of resources. In many cases, opportunity cost has been the cause of much discontent and tensions among families and even nations, since it often ends up in a zero-sum outcome.
But what if we had an endless limit of resources to accomplish every good intention each of us ever had? What if there was a bank that was always open and willing to supply all the resources ever needed for all the good works we each want to do? Well, according to Paul, there is such a bank. In his second letter to the Corinthians chapter 9:8, he exhorted them to be generous at all times, and his reason was that the God of the universe who created everything is able to make all grace abound to them, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, they may abound in every good work. According to Paul, there is no scarcity in God’s economy, which means we can always say yes to the needs of others.
Wait a minute, is Paul saying we will have sufficiency in all things at all times? Is that even possible? Can there ever be a situation where we have all sufficiency, having all that we need at all times? This depends on if we define the word sufficiency right. Unfortunately, for most of us, sufficiency means a bank account filled with millions and millions of dollars or large investments stashed away in an offshore account for the future. It means a storehouse full of goods for many years to come. However, in the truest sense of the word, sufficiency is having what we need at the present time. It is instructive that in the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11, Jesus taught his disciples to pray to their Heavenly Father for their daily bread. Why would Jesus teach them to pray for their needs on a daily basis as opposed to for many years to come? This is because God has promised to provide for us on a daily basis. He is able to make all grace abound to us, so that we have all that we need for today.
When we think of it that way, we would realise that most of us have more than we need today to be a blessing to others. To be honest, most of the worries and anxieties that keep us awake at night has nothing to do with our situations today. We are often more worried about tomorrow than we are today, which reveals a lot about our trust in God. Most of us will be quick to acknowledge that everything we have today is by the grace of God. Which begs the question, if we acknowledge it is God who has provided for us today, why are we so anxious about tomorrow? The God who has provided for you today is also able to provide tomorrow and not only for you, but so that you will abound in very good work.
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul spoke briefly about the saints in Macedonia in 2 Corinthians 8:2-4. Their attitude sums up how our own attitude should be with regard to helping meet the needs of other brothers and sisters Christ. According to Paul, “in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favour of taking part in the relief of the saints.” What was it that inspired that level of sacrificial generosity on the part of the Macedonians, to the extent that they were begging Paul to receive their gift – and it wasn’t because they had a lot of leftover money or resources, the text says it was out of extreme poverty?
It was because God had made all grace abound to them, and having all that they needed at the moment, they could abound in every good work.
There have been many instances where I have heard some Christians refer to 2 Corinthians 9:8 as a basis for claiming that God will provide everything they want. But nothing can be further from the truth. The verse doesn’t say anything about wants. The promise we have from God is that he will provide sufficiently at all times. There is a great difference between sufficiency and wants. It is also worth noting in our text the reason God makes all grace abound to us. It is so that we may abound in every good work. The provision of God is not so that we can spend what we receive on our selfish insatiable desires, but for every good work. As Christians, we should always be thinking of how we can serve others with the resources God has generously given us. Because
“we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which [He] God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
