Though Your Gift is Small

¹⁶Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. – Luke 9:16

I think sometimes we work too hard at giving.  We keep a running total of our weekly offerings to make sure we give exactly what we pledged, or we closely examine our income each month to be sure we have tithed it exactly.  We question how our charitable donations are used… will the homeless person just spend it on booze and cigarettes?  Will the charitable organization line the pockets of the organization’s officers or on unnecessary expenses?

When we consider giving our time and talent, perhaps we worry too much about our abilities.  Do we know enough about the Bible to teach Sunday school?  Are we friendly enough to be a greeter?  Don’t we need to be somewhat more “worthy” than others to assist at Communion?

  

All God really asks of us is to offer what we have.  Don’t offer a tenth… offer it all.  That doesn’t mean to put your whole pay check in the offering plate.  It means to know in your heart and mind that it all already belongs to God.  It means to make good use of the percentage you DON’T put in the offering plate and to be perfectly happy to give it all if you know God asks it of you… with the certain knowledge that he will provide.

It means responding to that nudge to serve even if you can’t imagine how you will do it… trusting God to equip you for whatever way he calls you.  God just wants our willingness.  He knows what we can give and what we can do.  If we give him five loaves and two fish in the face of an army to feed, he will honor that faith.

I will never forget shaking in my boots as I taught my first Sunday school class.  I just knew that no one in that church knew less about the Bible or Jesus than I did.  And I was probably right.  But God honored my faith, by filling me with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to learn the Bible stories as I taught them to my class.

My favorite line in the song “So You Would Come” is “Come to the Father,though your gift is small…”  It really doesn’t matter how little we have.  What matters is that we are willing to offer it, and let God bless it and use it to feed the multitudes.

Lord Jesus,

You do miracles with our smallest offering given in faith.  Open our hearts to give all we have.  Amen.

Joys:  Having a young grandchild so I have a good excuse to buy and watch The Lion King; listening to Daniel and Kevin discuss Kevin's senior project; Cecelia's enjoyment of watching videos of herself of "when I was little"

on my cell phone