He called the thing sowing, so you might at once look into the recompense, and having in mind the harvest, you might feel that you receive more than you give. For this reason he did not say, 'he who gives,' but 'he who sows' ...A man when left to himself, does a thing more readily than when compelled. Therefore he dwells on this...For if it is a work of virtue and yet all that is done is of necessity, it is shorn of its reward. So he labors at this point with reason. And he does not merely advise, he also adds a prayer ... By this prayer he waylays a thought which lay in wait against this liberality and which is now also a hindrance to many. For many persons are afraid to give alms, saying, 'Lest perchance I become poor' ...To do away with this fear then, he adds this prayer, saying, May 'He make all grace abound towards you.' Not merely fulfil, but 'make it abound.' 'Fill you,' he means, 'with such great things, that you may be able to abound in this liberality ...He does not pray for riches, nor for abundance, but for all sufficiency ...For in carnal things he asks for a sufficiency for them, but in spiritual things for abundance, not only in almsgiving, but in all others things as well, 'unto every good work.' Then he brings the prophet forward as a counsellor for them, having sought out a testimony inviting them to bountifulness ... Let us not therefore nicely calculate, but sow with a profuse hand. Do you see how much others give to players and harlots? Give at any rate the half to Christ, of what they give to dancers ... For they clothe the persons of wantons with untold gold, but you do not cover even with a threadbare garment the flesh of Christ, and that though beholding it naked. ~St. John Chrysostom. Homily XIX on II Corinthians IX, 2, 3. B#56, pp. 369-370
Praise God. Amen
May God Bless You Pastor Obet 🙏
glory to God!
He called the thing sowing, so you might at once look into the recompense, and having in mind the harvest, you might feel that you receive more than you give. For this reason he did not say, 'he who gives,' but 'he who sows' ...A man when left to himself, does a thing more readily than when compelled. Therefore he dwells on this...For if it is a work of virtue and yet all that is done is of necessity, it is shorn of its reward. So he labors at this point with reason. And he does not merely advise, he also adds a prayer ... By this prayer he waylays a thought which lay in wait against this liberality and which is now also a hindrance to many. For many persons are afraid to give alms, saying, 'Lest perchance I become poor' ...To do away with this fear then, he adds this prayer, saying, May 'He make all grace abound towards you.' Not merely fulfil, but 'make it abound.' 'Fill you,' he means, 'with such great things, that you may be able to abound in this liberality ...He does not pray for riches, nor for abundance, but for all sufficiency ...For in carnal things he asks for a sufficiency for them, but in spiritual things for abundance, not only in almsgiving, but in all others things as well, 'unto every good work.' Then he brings the prophet forward as a counsellor for them, having sought out a testimony inviting them to bountifulness ... Let us not therefore nicely calculate, but sow with a profuse hand. Do you see how much others give to players and harlots? Give at any rate the half to Christ, of what they give to dancers ... For they clothe the persons of wantons with untold gold, but you do not cover even with a threadbare garment the flesh of Christ, and that though beholding it naked.
~St. John Chrysostom. Homily XIX on II Corinthians IX, 2, 3. B#56, pp. 369-370