Penny Pincher

One of my favorite stories of the Gospels is in Luke, chapter 21, verses 1-4.  It's one of my favorites because I've experienced the story first-hand before.  But I'll get into that later.  First, the story.

So imagine, you're at church one sunny day and all of the wealthy people who live in the city are giving tons and tons of money to the church.  As they do so, an old beggar woman shakily walks forward and drops two small copper coins into the offering jar.  Everyone begins to mock her, but a voice of truth comes from behind you.  A man in his early thirties tells the twelve men standing around him that the woman had given more to God than anyone else there, because she gave all she had.

Intense, right?  It really makes you think.  Those wealthy people gave a ton of money because it didn't hurt them to give away the cream off the top of their coffee. (Unless it's a Java Chip Frap from Starbucks and someone asks for the whipped cream off the top.  Then I would have to hurt them (; ).  Giving away money when you have a ton of money to give away is no skin off your back.  But when you have no money... giving is hard.  Very hard.

God wants more from us than what is easy to give.  That's the bottom line.  If we aren't putting our everything into His kingdom, if we don't give back to Him AT LEAST 10% of what we have, and if we don't give to Him with an attitude of willingness to do so, then we aren't giving enough.  2 Corinthians 8:12 says, "For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not to what one does not have."

God wants us to:
- Give back to Him
- Break a sweat doing so
- Give, love, and trust with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (MORE ON THIS LATER!  STAY TUNED!)

When we give our all and place all of our trust in Him, He blesses us.  He won't let anything bad happen to us if we are trusting in Him 110%.  Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding."  How's that for tough?  It takes a lot of time and spiritual strength to accomplish that.

One last thing before I close out this post.  My first-hand experience.

At my middle school, the band did a benefit concert every year to help an association in need of financial support.  In my 6th grade year, the 7th and 8th grade bands had a benefit concert for a charity I don't remember now.  At the end, during the last song, there was a chance for anyone and everyone to come up and put money into big jars on the edge of the stage to give to the charity.  I had gathered up as much money as I could before the concert, still leaving some for myself, and I scurried up to the stage to put my dollahs and coins into the jar.  While waiting to drop my donation in, I saw one of my friends and I went over to her and showed her how much I was giving.  She showed me hers and said, "I brought all I could find."  She had about 28 cents in pennies and nickels.  Humbled, I gave her half of what I had so she could donate more.

The fact that all she could find to donate was 28 cents... and that was all she had... and she was giving it all...

WOW.

How's that for willingness and sacrifice?

Think today and for the next couple days about how you can give back to God.  It may be through talents, gifts, tithing, serving, or anything like that.  In what ways can YOU glorify God?

<3 Warrior