in a crisis

HOW do we continue to Love God and Love Others, even when our own personal needs are being as squeezed as those we’re seeking to help? Let’s be honest: there are no easy answers.

However, we can see from the example of Macedonian churches in 2 Corinthians 8 that it is possible. Although they were being personally squeezed, by what is simply described as ‘pressure’, their above-and-beyond response was nothing short of miraculous, given their own financial circumstances.

‘Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colours: they were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could –far more than they could afford! –pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians’ (2 Corinthians 8:1–4 MSG).

Could the current cost of living crisis be described as ‘fierce troubles’ pushing communities and individuals to their limits? It’s unlikely that this will be read by a wide Macedonian readership, but perhaps a reasonable question to pose is: how were those Christians, described as being ‘desperately poor’, found pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of other poor Christians?

The Macedonian churches’ miraculous act of generosity was all about giving with a supernatural grace and so was not about getting at all. On the contrary, they seemed to have found a deep, God-given joy in bravely looking beyond self-interest and their comfort zones, digging deep and finding a powerfully outward-facing purpose in loving God and loving others. It seems that the ‘loving others’ bit didn’t fall to the wayside when it required some sort of selfless, sacrificial giving; rather, it appears to have been the miraculous divine catalyst to giving generously.

Proverbs 11:14 says: ‘Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in an abundance of counsellors there is victory’ (New American Standard Bible). Could this verse remind us that our