10 And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; 11 but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. 12 For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. (2 Cor. 8:10-12)

Christians in Jerusalem were in desperate need of relief, and the Corinthian church desired to serve them. Their desire to help had prompted them to begin to help a year earlier (v. 10). Apparently, they had not yet completed this work. (Paul had previously instructed them on this matter, 1 Corinthians 16:1-3.) Now, Paul counsels them to bring their actual giving into harmony with their desire to help (2 Corinthians 8:16-9:15). Paul explained God did not expect from them what they were unable to give (v. 12). God would accept their giving based on their willingness and their ability to do so. We thus conclude that a willing heart plus one's ability produces giving that Gods accepts. The Macedonian churches had set an example of willing hearts plus generous giving (2 Corinthians 8:1-5). Giving without a willing heart becomes coercion. Readiness to give without following through becomes empty rhetoric. With willing hearts, may we fully give according to our ability, we may be confident of the Lord's acceptance.