2 Corinthians 8 EASY

1. My Christian friends, let me tell you about the believers in the churches in Macedonia. God has been very kind to them.

2. They have had bad troubles, but they continued to be very happy. As a result, they gave a lot of money to other people. They themselves are very poor, but they still helped other people a lot.

3. Let me tell you this. They gave as much money as they were able to give. Then they gave even more than that! They gave it because they wanted to.

4. They wanted the chance to help God's people. That would make them happy. So they asked us many times to help them to do this.

5. They did more than we had even hoped for! First, they gave themselves to the Lord. Then they also gave themselves to us. They did that because God wanted them to do it.

6. Because of that, we asked Titus to continue to help you. He is the person who helped you to start giving money. So he will help you to finish this good work.

7. You have so much of everything! You trust God very well. You speak well. You know everything. You want to do many good things. You love us even more than we love you! So also do the best that you can as you give money to help others.

8. I am not telling you that you must do this. I have told you how much other believers want to give their money. In that way, I want to see if you really love other people who need your help.

9. You know that our Lord Jesus Christ is very kind. He was rich, but he made himself poor to help you. So then, because he became poor, you could become rich.

10. This is what I think you should do. Last year, you were the first people to give money. You really wanted to do that. So the best thing for you is to finish what you started to do.

11. Now finish the work. When you started, you wanted very much to do it. Now you should want just as much to finish it. You should give what you are able to give.

12. If you really want to give, then God will accept your gift. God does not want you to give more than you are able to give. He will be happy about what you can give.

13. My purpose is not to bring trouble to you. You should not have pain while other people have plenty. Instead, both you and they should have enough.

14. At this time, you yourselves have plenty. So you are able to give to those people who do not have enough. One day, things may change. They may have plenty, and you may not have enough. Then they can give money to help you. In that way, you will all have enough when you need it.

15. It says this in the Bible: ‘The person who picked up a lot did not have too much. And the person who picked up a small amount also had enough.’

16. Titus wants to help you just as much as we do. We thank God that he has made Titus ready to do that.

17. He was very happy when we asked him to come to you. He himself already wanted to help you. So he really decided to visit you for himself.

18. We are sending another man with Titus. He is also a believer. The Christians in all the other churches praise this man. They say that he works hard to tell people the good news about Christ.

19. Those Christians in the other churches have also chosen this man to travel with us. They want him to help us when we take this gift. Our work will show that the Lord is great. It will also show that we are ready to help.

20. We want to be very careful about this large gift of money. That is why the other believer will come with us. We do not want anyone to say that we have done something wrong.

21. Our purpose is to do only what is right. We want the Lord to see that, and people must see it as well.

22. We will also send another believer along with the other men. This man has always shown us that we can trust him. He has wanted to help in many different ways. Now that he is very sure about you, he wants to help even more.

23. As for Titus himself, he works along with me, to help you. The other believers are coming on behalf of the churches that sent them. They want to show that Christ is great.

24. So show these men that you love them. Then all the churches will be sure about you. They will know that we were right to be proud of you.