Giving is not motivated by trying to convince people how "smart" and "responsible" and "enjoyable" it is to give…(rather we are to be) savoring and seeking the kingdom of God. Only the greater treasures of the kingdom of God can free us from clinging to the competing treasures of this world. Only the deeper satisfaction that comes from spending ourselves for others can defeat the sinfully natural impulse to use others for our own ends. And giving up ourselves for others can take place only when our own security needs have already been met in the Christ who spent Himself for us (2 Cor. 8:9). Hence, rather than focusing merely on more effective ways to advertise the benefits and obligations of giving, we need to pray for the pouring out of God’s Spirit on His people. Instead of bigger fund-raising campaigns, we need a bigger picture of God.

— Scott Hafemann (b. 1954), Theologe und Neutestamentler

Related Bible passage: 2CO.8.9

Topics: Money & Possessions, Grace & Redemption

Scott Hafemann

Scott Hafemann (* 1954) ist ein US-amerikanischer evangelikaler Neutestamentler und Theologe, der unter anderem am Wheaton College, am Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary und an der University of St Andrews lehrte. Bekannt ist er für seine Arbeiten zur paulinischen Theologie, insbesondere zum zweiten Korintherbrief, sowie für die theologische Betonung der Kontinuität von Altem und Neuem Testament. Bibellesern vermittelt seine Exegese ein vertieftes Schriftverständnis, das alttestamentliche Verheißungen eng mit praktischer Kreuzesnachfolge und Glaubensgehorsam verbindet.

All quotes by Scott Hafemann (39)

More on this topic

God made us to love people and use things. Our problem is that we love things and use people.

Unknown

My banker is the good Lord. He sees to it that there is always something.

Mother Teresa

By God's grace, my eyes do not look at the empty storerooms and the empty purse, but at the riches of our Lord alone.

George Muller

To count money out of an empty purse, to bake bread out of the clouds — that is our Lord God's art alone. Yet he does it daily. He makes everything out of nothing.

Martin Luther

The concern for my daily bread is a material question. The concern for my brother's bread is a spiritual question.

Nikolai Berdyaev

Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.

C.S. Lewis

Material wealth is either a window through which we see God or a mirror in which we see ourselves.

Warren Wiersbe

What a person loves, that is their god. For they carry it in their heart, they turn it over day and night, they sleep with it and wake with it, whatever it may be — wealth or money, pleasure or honor.

Martin Luther

All quotes · lumen.bible