Parallel Bible results for "2 corinthians 8:7-15"

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

The Message Bible MSG

7 You do so well in so many things - you trust God, you're articulate, you're insightful, you're passionate, you love us - now, do your best in this, too.

8 I'm not trying to order you around against your will. But by bringing in the Macedonians' enthusiasm as a stimulus to your love, I am hoping to bring the best out of you.

9 You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us - in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.

10 So here's what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale.

11 Your heart's been in the right place all along. You've got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it.

12 Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. The heart regulates the hands.

13 This isn't so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you're shoulder to shoulder with them all the way,

14 your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even.

15 As it is written, Nothing left over to the one with the most, Nothing lacking to the one with the least.

New International Version NIV

7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you —see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.

11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.

12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.

13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.

14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality,

15 as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”