“And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the more I am loved.”
The Few
Paul names both spend and be spent here, worth distinguishing directly. Spend suggests active, deliberate giving of resources, time, energy. Be spent suggests something further, genuine depletion, actually being used up in this service, both named together as what Paul was genuinely, gladly willing to offer.
Notice gladly, the specific quality attached to this willing depletion, not grudging obligation or resentful sacrifice, but genuine gladness, worth examining against however much your own investment in others has felt more like grudging duty than this described, genuine gladness Paul names directly here.
Notice also though the more abundantly I love you, the more I am loved, an honest acknowledgment that this generous giving was not always reciprocated proportionally, worth holding as real, sobering honesty about discipleship’s actual cost, sometimes genuinely unreciprocated, and yet Paul remained willing regardless.
Consider today whether your own investment in others carries this gladness Paul describes, or whether it has settled into grudging obligation, and consider also whether you have remained willing to spend and be spent even when reciprocation has been genuinely thin, following Paul’s own honest, sober example here.
Pour Into the Few
- Examine whether your own investment carries genuine gladness or has settled into grudging obligation.
- Give gladly today, deliberately, one specific resource of time or energy, following Paul’s own example.
- Remain willing today even where reciprocation has been genuinely thin or absent.
Prayer
Lord, let me gladly spend and be spent for whoever I disciple, even where love is not proportionally returned, following Paul’s own honest, sober, and genuinely glad example. Amen.
Carry this today
Genuine investment is gladly given, even when reciprocation remains genuinely thin.