2 Corinthians 8:7
Now as you excel in everything"in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in your love for us"see that you excel in this gracious work also.
There is a hidden pattern to the Christian life hidden in this simple sentence. In the fall of Adam, work, like the rest of life, became broken and distorted. Where work had been intended to be part of the joy of our communion with God, it became burdensome, frustrating and toilsome. That is why the goal of so much of our work is to get out of it, to invent labor-saving devices, to do our “day job” so we can afford a little time to do what we care about now and then, to slog away until we get that vacation or live long enough to retire. But in the Kingdom of Heaven, work is not a punishment or an obstacle: it is a reward and a joy. And so Paul offers the Corinthians who have excelled in faith, utterance, knowledge, earnestness and love, not a “break” but the opportunity and delight of excelling even further. To him who has, more will be given.
