Hi guys,
Well, I have been thinking for quite awhile now and I finally decided to share my 2 cents worth of thoughts on giving. Yes I know by now, most of you would have been bombarded by the series of messages on giving and building fund. And the last thing you probably want to read about on this blog is me sharing my thoughts on giving. But come on guys, let’s admit it. Giving, be it time or money, is something we all do struggle at some point of time in our lives. And it's usually at the most inconvenient time. It is pretty obvious why the Bible talks about giving and money so much more than other things.
I started going to church when I was about 15 and as a young christian I had this youth pastor who had a five year old son. Being a pastor, he would make use of every opportunity to teach his son Christian values. One of which was taking a packet of chocolates and giving one to his son and asking him to give the chocolate to one of us. As his son scrambles to give us the chocolate, he would then give him another one to give away and it would go on until everyone had a chocolate. He did this pretty often with his son except for this one particular time, where there wasn't enough chocolate to go around. So finally it came down to the last chocolate, he put it in his son's hands and showed him the empty packet. Things are a little bit different now that the kid knew there wasn't enough for everybody and he was a lot more hesitate to give away the chocolate in his hands.
It never really did strike me then as a young Christian. All I thought was this dad was trying to teach his son to give and it was a "christian thing" to give anyway. But as I look back now, isn't our relationship with God somewhat similar to this little boy and his father? Like the father, God could have distributed the "chocolates" himself but most of the time he chooses not to. Instead, he uses us so that we may learn to give.
I have been working for about 2 years now and when I was still studying, I always had this perception that its easy for young working adults to give because they are all working and earning money. There's not need to worry about not being able to pay rent or school fees. But sadly, the matter of fact is, it is actually still if not more difficult to give as a young adult. With the mountainous amount of bills, giving to parents, tithes, Hillsongs trip, saving up for my house and for some mortgage, I would be lying if I said that it was easy for me to decide the amount to give and that I'm all ready to give it all for the building fund. Like that little boy, many of times I'm unsure and hesitant. But seriously, I wouldn't need faith if I'm always sure.
The vision for this year is "one more for Jesus". Let us look at the building fund not just mere bricks and stones but lives that are going to be touched and changed through our faith being stretched. Yes, IT IS GONNA BE DIFFICULT AND IT'S GONNA COST. But what is giving if it does not cost us anything. As I look back at the last 5 years of my life in perth, God has never short-changed me in any way. As a student, I was poor but never once in need. I always had enough if not more. In my work, he has blessed me with pay rise after pay rise. Sometimes we do have to give our "chocolate" away for God to give us more. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us and I'm sure it's more than chocolates.
Still bit scare but excited.
~Charles~
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