⁵ So I thought it necessary to exhort the brothers that they should go on to you in advance, and get everything about your gracious gift in order ahead of time. You’ve already promised it, after all. Then it really will appear as a gift of grace, not something that has had to be extorted from you.

God loves a cheerful giver

⁶ This is what I mean: someone who sows sparingly will reap sparingly as well. Someone who sows generously will reap generously. ⁷ Everyone should do as they have determined in their heart, not in a gloomy spirit or simply because they have to, since “God loves a cheerful giver.”