Often our intentions are better than our actions. We INTEND to eat healthy, but we often eat too many sugary or processed foods. We INTEND to exercise, but we often sleep in instead. We INTEND to pray for our friend, but we often forget. We INTEND to make our family a priority, but we often allow other things to dominate our lives.
Many times, we have good intentions but poor execution.
This is true in many areas of our lives, including generosity. Many of us WANT to be generous. We DESIRE to give money and time to the benefit of others and to the glory of God … we have good intentions, yet we sometimes fail to follow through with the delivery of the gift.
This is not a modern/American problem, it is a human dilemma. It actually was the situation with the church in Corinth in the first century. Paul had shared a financial opportunity with the church, and the church had responded enthusiastically committing to give to meet that need … however, one year after their promise to take up an offering, nothing had been done. Their desire to give … their intention to give … their commitment to give had been overridden by other interests.
Can you relate?
To my Christian brothers and sisters, I KNOW what your intention is … and it is GOOD. You want to be generous with others. You long to see your life connected to things of eternal significance. I know that … but all too often, our desires do not materialize into realities. I personally have seen this happen in my own life. So what encouragement can we find in God’s Word to help us turn our desires into a reality?
This Sunday at Wildwood Community Church, in our 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00 worship services, we will be in part 2 of our “Mission:Fund” sermon series. We will be looking at 2 Corinthians 8:8-15 to see how Paul encourages the Corinthians to fulfill their original commitments to generosity. In his admonishment from nearly 2,000 years ago, we will see contemporary insight on how we can align our good intentions with generous implementation. We will also be celebrating the Lord’s Table together, and talking again about opportunities to participate in where we will send resources as a part of our July “Mission:Fund” program (click here for more info).
See you Sunday … and bring friends!