8
“Their Joy Was So Great That It Spilled Out in a Rich Display of Generosity”
1 Now we would like to draw your attention,+ brothers and sisters, to the extraordinary generosity that God has graciously inspired+ in the assemblies of Macedonia.
2 In spite of severe trial and suffering, and even though they have so+ very little, their joy was so great that it spilled out in a rich display of generosity.+
3 I can vouch that they freely gave as much as they could,+ and even+ more than that,
4 pleading with us so+ earnestly for the privilege of taking part in the collection being made to help the Lord’s holy people.++
5 In fact, they did even more than we had expected;+ it was+ themselves that they gave to the Lord, first and most importantly, and to us, by the will of God.
6 As a result of their example,+ we urged Titus, just as he had earlier helped you get started, to also help you bring to a finish your own part in this privilege.+
7 Just as you are rich in indeed+ every respect+—in faith and in utterance+ and in knowledge and in every kind of concern and goodwill+ and in the love our lives have inspired in you+—make sure that you are rich in regard, too,+ to this privilege.
8 It isn’t+ as a command that I am telling you this; rather, using the concern and goodwill of others,+ I am testing the genuineness, likewise,+ of your own love.
9 Remember, after all, the generous example of our Lord Jesus the Messiah:+ Although+ he was so+ rich, for your sake he left his riches behind,++ so that you, through his+ poverty, could gain true+ riches.
10 Indeed, it is+ my own conviction that I am offering in regard to this matter. This, you see, is to your benefit, for whom it was+ not just in acting, but also in the readiness to do so, that you made a good start+ last year.
11 Now, however, go ahead and bring what you started to a finish,+ so that your eagerness and readiness may be matched by a successful finish in accordance with what you are able to give.+
12 If the eagerness is present, you see, the gift is pleasing to God irrespective of whether a person is able to give a lot or only a little.+
13 The goal, after all, isn’t for others to experience relief while you suffer hardship, but to help offset each other’s needs.+
14 In the present+ season, it is+ you who have an abundant supply that can help meet their+ needs,+ so that later,+ when they are the ones who+ have an abundance, they can help meet your+ needs,+ resulting in both having just the right amount as needed.+
15 As it is written: “The person who gathered much did not have too much, and the person who gathered little did not have too little.”+
16 Now thanks+ be to God, who placed the same concern and goodwill+ I have for you into the heart of Titus,
17 as seen+ in how he responded to what we urged+ of him so+ favorably. Having more goodwill and concern than ever,+ it is+ of his own decision that he is coming+ to you.
18 We are also sending along with Titus+ the brother whose service to the gospel has won him great respect+ in all the assemblies.
19 And not only that, but he was also chosen by the assemblies to accompany us and this generous gift that we are organizing and going to deliver+ in order to bring glory to the Lord himself,+ and to show our eager desire to help.
20 We are taking these precautions so that no one+ will have room to accuse us of somehow mishandling this large sum that is under our care and responsibility.+
21 Indeed, we are taking pains to do what is honorable “not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.”+
22 We are also sending along with these two+ another+ brother of ours, whose character we have tested in many ways on many occasions and found to be full of genuine concern and goodwill and diligence,+ and who now, moreover, is exuding these things even+ more because of his great confidence in you.
23 If anyone asks+ about Titus, say+ that he is a close associate of mine, and with respect to you a fellow worker; and if there is any question+ about these other+ brothers of ours, say that they are representatives sent and commissioned+ by the assemblies, and they bring honor to the Messiah.+
24 Make sure that you clearly demonstrate to them, therefore, in the presence of the assemblies,+ the truth of your love and of the things we’ve said to them in praise of you.+