God asks us to give and to give joyfully. To sacrifice for others and serve. God calls on us to be good stewards of the
blessings and gifts He bestows on us. As
our growing church embarks on a land and building project, its members are
called to give and to give sacrificially.
This all sounds good, right? A
chance to show God how much we love Him and His people. As my husband and I sat down to discuss just
what we could sacrifice, we came up with entirely different numbers. His based on a figure that “just looked good”
to him and mine based on what I like to think is “real life.” There’s no better way of exposing your idols
then the practice of taking them away. I
found myself literally struggling with God as He grasped mine. There was no joy in my heart. There was aching, pain, longing, envy, desire,
jealousy and all those ugly feelings that come from the heart of us sinners. I struggled relentlessly and fell to bed
utterly exhausted.
This morning I woke to the rush of feelings generated by the
previous night’s battle. I picked up my
idol and continued the tug of war with God.
What would it take for me to realize this was a battle that would not be
won by human hands? My mother, a
recently saved Christian, was the one to open my eyes. Her response to my misgivings was simple and
whole. Money can buy us a house,
furniture to fill it and gas to warm it, but God has bought us a home, with a
family to fill it and love to warm it. Now
God calls on us to give of our money so He can buy us some land, build us a
church and, ultimately, make us a home in Christ. I want to be a part of that. And, yes, that does fill my heart with joy.
