1 Now, brothers and sisters, we want to tell you about the grace of God which has been evident in the churches of Macedonia [awakening in them a longing to contribute]; 2 for during an ordeal of severe distress, their abundant joy and their deep poverty [together] overflowed in the wealth of their lavish generosity.
I don’t know that much about Macedonia but I can talk about the deplorables. Under Clinton NAFTA was passed and resulted in manufacturing moving from the US to Mexico and China. This was an ordeal of severe distress to them causing many places like Detroit to be turned into a wasteland. Then in 2008 we had the mortgage crisis. In brief banks sold mortgages that they knew people would not be able to afford and in five years they would default. When they default the houses would go back to the banks after these people had paid $60,000 or more to them on the house. It was a scam to get rich quick for the banks. Then in 2020 we had a “pandemic”. Yes there is a real virus called Covid19 and yes it was quite contagious and even deadly to some people. But the response was completely irrational. Social distancing and face masks have greatly reduced the viral load that people are being exposed to when they get it. As a result we are seeing huge numbers of people testing positive, a hundred times greater than in March when NY first shut down, and yet the numbers going to the hospital are far lower. Government enforced shutdowns of the government are both arbitrary (restaurants are forced to close whereas movie production and their outdoor dining are not) and irrational. They are trying to destroy small businesses to the benefit of the large conglomerates like Amazon.com and McDonalds. In this context these are the same people who are giving lavishly to this “Stop the Steal” movement.
3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave voluntarily, 4 begging us insistently for the privilege of participating in the service for [the support of] the saints [in Jerusalem]. 5 Not only [did they give materially] as we had hoped, but first they gave themselves to the Lord and to us [as His representatives] by the will of God [disregarding their personal interests and giving as much as they possibly could].
The ministry is about “God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven”. It is about “thy kingdom come”. This requires all of us. We have those like the apostle Paul who can share the vision with us, we have those like these lawyers and witnesses who are exposing the corruption, and we have the deplorables who are giving voluntarily because they see participation in this historic movement as a privilege.
I don’t know that much about Macedonia but I can talk about the deplorables. Under Clinton NAFTA was passed and resulted in manufacturing moving from the US to Mexico and China. This was an ordeal of severe distress to them causing many places like Detroit to be turned into a wasteland. Then in 2008 we had the mortgage crisis. In brief banks sold mortgages that they knew people would not be able to afford and in five years they would default. When they default the houses would go back to the banks after these people had paid $60,000 or more to them on the house. It was a scam to get rich quick for the banks. Then in 2020 we had a “pandemic”. Yes there is a real virus called Covid19 and yes it was quite contagious and even deadly to some people. But the response was completely irrational. Social distancing and face masks have greatly reduced the viral load that people are being exposed to when they get it. As a result we are seeing huge numbers of people testing positive, a hundred times greater than in March when NY first shut down, and yet the numbers going to the hospital are far lower. Government enforced shutdowns of the government are both arbitrary (restaurants are forced to close whereas movie production and their outdoor dining are not) and irrational. They are trying to destroy small businesses to the benefit of the large conglomerates like Amazon.com and McDonalds. In this context these are the same people who are giving lavishly to this “Stop the Steal” movement.
3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave voluntarily, 4 begging us insistently for the privilege of participating in the service for [the support of] the saints [in Jerusalem]. 5 Not only [did they give materially] as we had hoped, but first they gave themselves to the Lord and to us [as His representatives] by the will of God [disregarding their personal interests and giving as much as they possibly could].
The ministry is about “God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven”. It is about “thy kingdom come”. This requires all of us. We have those like the apostle Paul who can share the vision with us, we have those like these lawyers and witnesses who are exposing the corruption, and we have the deplorables who are giving voluntarily because they see participation in this historic movement as a privilege.