First to the Lord

Paul was pleasantly surprised by something the church at Macedonia did. That's nice to hear, as a bit of relief from the bad surprises he was getting wind of from Galatia and Corinth.

Titus had been dispatched there to raise money for the poor in Jerusalem. (Never mind that the Macedonians were extremely poor themselves.). He happily returned to Paul with coffers full. According to 2 Corinthians 8:3, "They gave according to their means…and beyond their means."

But that's not yet the part that pleasantly surprised Paul. It was this: They acted "…not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us." It seems that Paul was anticipating a business-as-usual way of handling the fundraiser --- a worldly, shake-the-trees affair, which would have gotten the job done well enough.

But evidently the Macedonians didn't start digging deep in their wallets until they had gotten on their knees together and reminded themselves in the presence of God that they belonged to Him. Then, secondarily, they opened their wallets.

I am aware of a current situation in which a Christian school is tearing itself apart in the name of protecting orthodoxy. I have been praying that someone there would remember the Macedonians and would move that both sides come together and do the vertical thing in prayer and fasting before they attempt any further to do the horizontal thing and settle the doctrinal matter.