GOING BEYOND THE NORM. 2 Corinthians 8:9. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.”
Needs are real: not always near at hand but often from far afield where there are those who in desperation raise their voices and rise to call on God. There are crying children and hungry mothers who take food from their own plates to stave off the inevitable, unless - unless from far away, another voice comes to the throne of grace and says, “Here am I.” There in homes and groups of praying, working people, comes the needed response, “Send me.”
The example is given, there is none higher than He and from Him, we learn how grace really works. The need of all humanity was before Him – the ultimate glory of divine holiness all around Him. “He made Himself of no reputation” – “…for your sakes, He became poor…” coming from riches to poverty to meet our needs. He became “Obedient unto death even the death of the cross” – there was no farther He could go and no other way to provide what we needed. Because He went beyond what was normal. we live, we have been given eternal life freely and we are now children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Where sin abound, grace did much more abound, way beyond what was normal or could be expected. The exceeding riches of His grace will be forever seen because He went beyond even normal grace. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly, beyond our wildest dreams – He went beyond the norm.
Now, how about us? Are we willing to go beyond the extent of our comfort, to go farther than normal? People of poverty often give with abundance from the very little they have; how about people of abundance – do we give? It begins way before tithes or offerings; there is a willingness to give ourselves – unhesitatingly. Then it moves to be willing to give of ourselves beyond that which is normal and perhaps beyond our power because our desire is to give to God.
From affliction and trial comes the real joy of giving to God far greater than that which is our weekly normal. A sacrifice of self to the Lord, “I am His, purchased by His blood,” begins from a grateful heart and then gives to fulfill the will of God. From poverty comes abundance, from giving comes abounding grace, from abounding grace… comes love, sincere, Christ-like love – and others are helped and blessed by those willing and wanting to go beyond the norm.