What about me?

I know that I was not supposed to talk about money, but in part I decided to. Money is such a large part of our everyday life, and we interact with it all the time. We buy things with it, pay bills, give it away, save it, and so on. We manage and value money so much, it is a large part of our identity.
Just because much of Canada is blessed with an abundance of money, I am not saying that they should be ashamed of it, but I'm not saying that they should covet it either. Overall, life is not about money, and everything we do should not always be centred around the stuff. Many times I find that when I want to help people, my automatic response is to give away money, which is great! But that is not the main point!
Paul has alot to say about generosity and giving generously. In 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 he talks about people and how they should give. First he stresses that giving is very important to life. For "he who sows sparingly reaps sparingly" (verse 6). He also states however that everyone must not give reluctantly or under pressure in the next verse. People must only give what they have decided to, not what they feel they should. The main thing to stress is that God is not poor, and he does not need money for Himself. He wants the hearts of His people to be generous and naturally inclined to give to others. Paul also states that God is able to bless those who are giving from their hearts, and there is no need to worry about running out. Naturally, people are inclined to hold onto what they have instead of giving it to help others. It is a very supernatural thing for people to desire to use their physical and non-physical resources to help others from the heart.
Money plays such a large role in this because we have so much of it! Our culture is so richly blessed with money that there seems to be almost no end to the good that can be done in Jesus name, and that is a truly glorious idea.
Later in verse 10 Paul says that the goodness that is manifested in the act of true generosity (that is, from the heart) will multiply how much that person really has to give to others. Therefore, because they will be blessed with so much more, they are able to give more, and more and more.
The trap that many may fall into may be that they plan to be generous so that they will be blessed and given more. The only problem with this is that God is able to both give to people as well as take away from them. He is the one that is really in control, and should not be "used", if that were really possible, for material or non-material gain. But in love, people should give and provide, because we are so blessed and loved by God Himself.