"'ARE YOU GIVING TOO MUCH TO GOD?"'
Last Sunday morning I made a convert. Little Luke Frauenthal told his mother he didn't want to put change in the collection plate anymore. He wanted a bill. His mother Jeanie, opened her billfold which contained a one-dollar bill and a five. Luke took the five and put it in the plate. Jeanie confessed that tears came to her eyes. She asked, "How do you tell a child that he is giving too much to the Lord?"
Ah, that's a good question, isn't it! Children don't do all of the calculations we do. If they are touched, they will give away everything they have. They not only will give you the money; they will also throw in the piggy. What simplicity! What beauty! They have been known to give away their favorite doll, or even their bicycle.
As adults we have to sit down and figure. With a sharp pencil, or calculator, we take note of percentages. We figure not only what we are giving but how much we are going to keep. Rarely is it a spontaneous thing. It's cold calculating and precise. Generally respectable, but not necessarily generous. We give more out of duty than desire.
We speak of the widow's mite when we don't have a clue what we are talking about. We admire the broken alabaster box, but have never felt the love of that woman. You can't neatly fit such acts of giving into percentages. There's something deeper and more meaningful there than tends to show up in the way we give.
How do you go about giving to someone who was crucified for you? Careful, now. You don't want it to be too much.
For Bible reading on this subject go to:
http://tannerchurchofchrist.com/TCC/teach-Giving.html
Tanner Church of Christ
19925 Huntsville Brownsferry Road Tanner, Alabama 35671 ..
(256) 233-1448 http://tannerchurchofchrist.org