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1 As to the services which are being rendered to God's people, it is really unnecessary for me to write to you. 2 For I know your earnest willingness, on account of which I habitually boast of you to the Macedonians, pointing out to them that for a whole year you in Greece have been ready; and the greater number of them have been spurred on by your ardour. 3 Still I send the brethren in order that in this matter our boast about you may not turn out to have been an idle one; so that, as I have said, you may be ready; 4 for fear that, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we--not to say you yourselves--should be put to the blush in respect to this confidence. 5 I have thought it absolutely necessary therefore to request these brethren to visit you before I myself come, and to make sure beforehand that the gift of love which you have already promised may be ready as a gift of love, and may not seem to have been something which I have extorted from you. 6 But do not forget that he who sows with a stingy hand will also reap a stingy crop, and that he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Let each contribute what he has decided upon in his own mind, and not do it reluctantly or under compulsion. "It is a cheerful giver that God loves." 2 Corinthians 9:1-7, Weymouth New Testament. Public domain.
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