Hi Disciple!
Money. In 2 Corinthians 8-10 Paul spends three whole chapters just talking about giving money away. There's tipping, then there's truly sacrificing something you love to meet the true need of another person who is suffering and stuck.
I was raised in an ascending lower middle class family. My dad's people were hard-working farmers and turpentine gatherers. Not much money in that. My dad's generation got more education and all of them left farming for factory and professional jobs. My dad became an accountant and rose to become the head of the entire international firm. That’s America. This journey took a lifetime.
My generation across the extended family got the benefit of our parent’s steady rise. I think all of us got the education we wanted and with it all the opportunities we could pursue. Like all other families, we had times when money was short and we had to work harder to have the things we wanted.
We always had food, shelter, and clothing, however. For this, I'm so grateful.
For the past 35 years Sherry and I have lived in Southeast Asia and in the last 10 years we’ve been working closely with a ministry focused on trafficking which connects to the deepest kind of poverty.
I sat at a table in a communist country with ministry friends talking to a young lady, modestly dressed, about her current work as a prostitute. She said she was from the mountains, doing this job to try and get the money to pay someone to take her to Malaysia so she could get a job in a factory.
Poverty is complicated. I’m not sure there’s a clear formula for eradicating it. In general, good food and a chance to get an education seem to be a working prescription.
This young lady’s entire life story could've been rewritten had she just been embraced by a local church that loved her and saw her potential and would help her find transformation through Jesus. There she could have put her chaotic childhood to good use as fuel for a determination to break the cycle in her own life and for her family members. She intended to send her factory wages home to them.
The body of Christ is so powerful when it pulls together.
At other times there’s a disaster and God’s people sacrifice and throw their tools and extra beddings and food in the backs of pickup trucks and fly out to give help in those crucial first hours after a tornado, flood or fire.
We can feel God’s smile on us in those times.
Paul’s Counsel to the Corinthians
If you read 2 Corinthians 8-10 you'll find Paul telling the church that they need to put some system into their good intentions. Most people have good intentions. They sincerely want to be a blessing on the Earth.
Paul reminds this gifted, wealthy church that good intentions are not enough. They need to make a plan as givers, set giving goals, and start pooling the money up, not waiting for a moment of inspiration.
Sherry and I have been able to give every day of our lives to world evangelism and the training of a new generation of leaders because of a set of friends who emerged in the first ten years of our journey (you know who you are). These friends made a plan and told us, “You can count on us monthly for X amount. We won’t stop as long as we have jobs.” We’ve watched our friends return from the field year by year because they lacked a group of friends like ours.
Systems matter. Systems make things happen.
Maybe it’s an extra 5% set aside to create your giving pool. Maybe it’s that emergency $100 in your wallet. Some kind of plan so that when you see someone pumping gas into a milk jug to carry to their broke down car you can put some money in their hand and give them a ride back to their car.
This Jesus Quest is about stepping up your level of sacrifice for those who are in trouble so you can be God’s hands extended to them.
It’s a happy lesson, because it’s one of the big ways we can all fulfill our purpose as humans created to be the image of God.
Hope you Enjoy this Quest and work on it daily!
Every Blessing,
Chuck
PS: Your daily prompt questions are below the video for this week.
Here are the prompts for your devotional time this week:
## Jesus Quest Week 4: Making Genuine Sacrifice for the Poor
### Day 1: Recognizing the Poor Among Us
**Scripture Reference:** Deuteronomy 15:11
> "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land."
**Reflection:** This week Jesus Quest has us trying to decide how to rewrite the life story of other people by intervening in life conditions caused by poverty. For example, no little girl dreams of being a prostitute someday—that life generally comes to the poor. Some families suffer from generational poverty and they just can't reach high enough to unlock the door to a better life. God will bless us so we can be a blessing to them and boost them up through interventions so that they can escape the poverty that has trapped their family for generations.
**Prompts:**
1. How does God's command to be "openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy" apply to your community today?
2. Who are the poor that you know? Is anyone you know under a financial burden or limited from pursuing their development because of a lack of resources?
3. Are there specific people or families you feel God is calling you to help in some way?
4. What is stopping you from reaching out or offering help to those in need?
5. How has God opened your eyes to see poverty and need in places you might have previously overlooked?
6. What assumptions about poverty or the poor might be preventing you from engaging with compassion?
7. How can you develop a heart that truly sees and responds to the poor as God sees them?
---
### Day 2: Understanding Genuine Sacrifice vs. Comfortable Giving
**Scripture Reference:** Mark 12:41-44
> "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, 'Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.'"
**Reflection:** Sometimes our intervention hardly affects us—we have extra money or things and we share them with others. This week we're focused on genuine sacrifices that we need to make on behalf of others. Jesus distinguished between giving out of abundance and giving sacrificially. True sacrifice costs us something significant and requires faith that God will provide for our needs as we provide for others.
**Prompts:**
1. How does the widow's sacrificial giving challenge your understanding of what constitutes genuine sacrifice?
2. What valuable resources (money, time, skills, influence) have you been given that you can honestly say you are willing to put on the altar for others' benefit?
3. What's the difference between giving out of your abundance versus giving sacrificially? Which characterizes most of your giving?
4. What would genuine sacrifice look like in your current financial and life situation?
5. What fears or concerns hold you back from making sacrificial gifts to help the poor?
6. How might God be calling you to trust Him more deeply through sacrificial giving?
7. Are you willing to sacrifice anonymously, without recognition or acknowledgment?
---
### Day 3: Empowerment vs. Dependency - Wise Intervention
**Scripture Reference:** 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12
> "For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: 'The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.' We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat."
**Reflection:** True love for the poor requires wisdom in how we help. Our goal is not to create dependency but to provide genuine intervention that lifts people up and helps them escape the cycles that have trapped them. This requires discernment, relationship, and sometimes tough love that encourages responsibility alongside provision.
**Prompts:**
1. How does Paul's teaching about work and responsibility inform your approach to helping the poor?
2. How can you ensure that your help empowers people rather than creating dependency?
3. What is genuine intervention that lifts people up versus help that might actually harm in the long run?
4. What skills, connections, or opportunities can you provide beyond just financial assistance?
5. How can you build relationships with those you help rather than just providing charity?
6. What would it look like to address root causes of poverty rather than just symptoms?
7. How can you help people develop their own capacity to escape generational poverty?
---
### Day 4: Examining Your Heart and Motivation
**Scripture Reference:** 2 Corinthians 9:6-7
> "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
**Reflection:** Our motivation for helping the poor matters as much as our actions. God desires cheerful, generous hearts that give freely rather than grudgingly. When we examine our hearts honestly, we may discover mixed motives—seeking recognition, alleviating guilt, or maintaining control. True sacrifice flows from a pure-hearted desire to serve like Jesus.
**Prompts:**
1. How does Paul's description of cheerful giving challenge you to examine your heart motivation?
2. What is your attitude or motivation when you consider giving sacrificially—do you seek recognition, relief from guilt, or a pure-hearted desire to serve like Jesus?
3. Are you willing to sacrifice anonymously, never receiving acknowledgment for your generosity?
4. What would it look like to give "what you have decided in your heart to give" rather than giving under pressure or compulsion?
5. How can you cultivate genuine joy and cheerfulness in your giving to the poor?
6. What fears, pride, or selfish desires need to be surrendered before you can give with pure motives?
7. How does your giving to the poor reflect your understanding of how God has given to you?
---
### Day 5: Commitment to Ongoing Impact and Transformation
**Scripture Reference:** Isaiah 58:6-7, 10-11
> "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? ... and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a dry and scorched land and will strengthen your frame."
**Reflection:** God's heart for the poor is not about occasional charity but about systemic change and ongoing commitment. When we "spend ourselves" on behalf of the hungry and oppressed, God promises to guide us, satisfy our needs, and strengthen us. This is about lifestyle transformation, not just one-time giving.
**Prompts:**
1. How does Isaiah's description of true fasting challenge you to think beyond occasional charity to systemic change?
2. How will you measure whether your sacrifices are truly making a difference in someone's life?
3. Are you willing to commit to ongoing support rather than one-time efforts?
4. What would it look like to "spend yourself" on behalf of the hungry and oppressed in your context?
5. How might God be calling you to address not just individual poverty but systems of injustice?
6. What lifestyle changes might be necessary to sustain long-term commitment to helping the poor?
7. How does God's promise to "guide you always" and "satisfy your needs" encourage you to take greater risks in sacrificial giving?
8. What specific commitment are you willing to make this week to begin or deepen your genuine sacrifice for the poor?
