You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
– 2 Corinthians 9:11
I love this verse and its simplicity and the logic in it, so just follow it. It’s really simple.
2 Corinthians 9:11 Portrays God as a Generous Giver
You will be enriched in every way so God enriches you. God is generous to you. God gives you and me so much. We are enriched by the grace of God in every way. For what purpose? To what end? You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way. So just as God has been generous to us, we are generous to others. His generosity toward us overflows in our generosity toward others. Remember the context of 2 Corinthians 8–9 is giving. They we encouraged to help impoverished brothers and sisters in Jerusalem who are struggling in the middle of famine.
And Paul’s collecting an offering for them. And he says, You are enriched by God so that you can be generous, which through us as we give this offering to the church in Jerusalem, will produce thanksgiving to God. So did you follow that? God gives to us, we give to others, and others give thanksgiving to God. It comes full circle. This is the way the economy of God works.
God with all of His riches is generous to you and me. Then you and I are intended to be generous toward others in a way that others give thanks to God for his generosity. We are an instrument of the generosity of God in others’ lives in ways that lead to thanksgiving and glory being given to God. And so I want to encourage you today to live out your part in this simple, glorious picture. Live out your part in the economy of God.
2 Corinthians 9:11 Encourages Us to Imitate God’s Generosity
Receive generously from God today. Then give generously to others as the overflow of God’s grace in your life today in such a way that your life and your giving specifically leads other people to give thanks to God, to give glory to him because of His generosity toward you and your generosity toward them. Oh, God, help us all to play the part you’ve called us to play in this picture. God, help us all to see your generosity in our lives, to see how you have enriched us in so many ways. And God, we pray that you would help us to be generous in every way. God, we pray that you would help us today to be generous with grace and others’ lives. And specifically generous with our giving to others in ways that lead to thanksgiving and glory from them to you.
Oh, God, we pray for this in our local churches. Help us to give generously in our local churches in ways that lead to more and more people giving thanksgiving and glory to you.
Prayer for the Hainanese People
And God, as we pray today for the Hainanese people of East Asia, 6.4 million of them, hardly any known followers of Jesus, most of them who have no knowledge of Jesus, who are not able to give thanksgiving to you because they don’t know about your salvation. God, we pray. Help us to be generous, to give for the spread of the gospel to the Hainanese people, that 6.4 million of them might be reached with the gospel and give thanksgiving to you for it, give thanksgiving to you for your grace that overflows through our generosity.
God, make us generous like this, we pray. Help us as we are enriched in so many ways by you to be generous in every way you call us to, in such a way that more and more people are giving thanks to you and glory to you for your generosity. Oh, God, help each of us to play our part in 2 Corinthians 9:11. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
