A Call to Generous Giving

8 Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia.

²⁹ That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

¹⁰ Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers^[a] throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.

¹⁰ But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.

⁹ That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”

⁸ Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.

² For I know how eager you are to help, and I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece^[a] were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the Macedonian believers to begin giving.

² They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.

³ For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. ⁴ They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem.^{[a] 5} They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.

⁶ So we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place, to return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving. ⁷ Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us^[b]—I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.

²⁶ For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia^[a] have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem.

²³ When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.