Minister’s Corner: Let love motivate you

As we look around us, we see many people who are less fortunate than we are. There are those in our community who live at or below the poverty level. As Christians, it should break our hearts. Paul addressed this issue in 2 Corintians 8:7-9 KJV. He wrote, “Therefore as ye abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the sincerity of your love.”
What we see in these verses is Paul challenged the Corinthian believers to be more generous, but he didn’t demand it of them. Paul knew that generosity comes from within. Shaming people to help or give is not an effective tool. Often, people will rebel against such tactic. People have to be motivated to give, and what Paul was saying was that love is the motivation for generosity.
Look around you. We have people in our city who have both physical and spiritual needs. They need someone reaching out extending the blessings of God into their lives. Why can’t we be those someones? We don’t want people dying without Christ or dying because of a lack of food and water, whatever the necessity may be. How can we call ourselves Christians when we see God’s children suffering and don’t lift a finger to help? So our love for them should be the motivating factor for us to show our generosity. If we are motivated by love, we will be givers.