God Loves a Cheerful Giver

Dear Friends in Christ,

We are counting the days to Easter. Soon the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection will ring through the worship areas and hallways of Stonebridge UMC. Let’s make this the biggest Easter Stonebridge has seen in years. Bring your friends and family and join in the celebration songs of praise to our Lord. 

Stonebridge UMC is growing. The children and youth areas have been growing especially fast. If God is calling you to give time to these vital areas of ministries, please contact me so I can get you connected with the right person. Or… make an extra donation to Stonebridge to help with the cost of these vital areas of ministry. 

This week has been a steady stream of people dropping off candy for the Easter Egg Hunt, food goods for Community Lifeline Center, and prom dresses for our McKinney Prom Closet. Every week there is something happening at SUMC to help those around us. 

As I reflected on the generosity of our congregation, I was led to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 8:6-8. 

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything you may share abundantly in every good work. (2 Corinthians 8:6-8)

In this passage, Paul reminds the church at Corinth that what seems like a sacrifice one day will be a blessing the next. Therefore, we should respond to the needs of others and our church joyously, knowing our lives will be enriched by the gifts we offer. 

Sadly, our world has become a “me first” culture. When asked to serve or give, the question asked is, “How will this affect me?”  Instead, God calls us to consider others first, so that all may benefit. God calls us to the least, the lost, and the hurting no matter what the cost. The promise, according to Paul, is that we will “reap what we sow.” In other words, there is a blessing in every sacrifice. 

At the turn of the 20th century a poor Scottish farmer named Fleming heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy. For most of the day, Fleming worked to save the lad from what would have been a slow and terrifying death. The sacrifice of a day’s labor would cause the Flemings to go without food for at least a day if not longer. But Fleming did the right thing, he saved the boy. 

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings.  An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Fleming had saved. “I want to repay you,” said the nobleman.  “You saved my son’s life.”

“No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel.

“Is that your son?” the nobleman asked.

“Yes,” the farmer replied proudly.

“I’ll make you a deal.  Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy.” The thought of his son getting a top education was an offer Fleming could not refuse. 

Fleming’s son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

But the story does not stop here. Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. The penicillin that Alexander Fleming had discovered was now saving the life of the nobleman’s son… again.

The name of the nobleman was Lord Randolph Churchill. His son was the great Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II.

And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything you may share abundantly in every good work. (2 Corinthians 8:8)

See you Sunday.

Pastor John Allen