The offering plate passed from person to person in the row in front of us. I gave my son, Vince, two, one dollar bills to put in the basket.
He clutched them in his small, three-year old hand. The man beside me handed me the basket and I held it down for Vince. Reluctantly, he deposited the dollar bills in the basket and then, just as I was about to pass it on, he grabbed a twenty dollar bill out of the plate.
Of course, I made him put it back right away. Then, I passed the basket on quickly, before he could start rifling through the checks.
Yet, if I am honest, my tendency is to emulate my son's behavior. I give two, but expect twenty in return.
Vince can be excused, for he doesn't really understand the value of money -- to him, it's just green pieces of paper, but I do understand. Even as I over value my contributions to Christ's kingdom, I tend to minimize and even forget His daily gifts for me.
John F. Kennedy said famously "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." In the same way, we ought to givers -- men and women who give without the thought, much less the expectation of something in return.
To tell the truth, it doesn't matter how much I give to God, I am the winner in the end. For I have found that when you give whole heartedly, you don't have to take, instead God gives to you in ways that you never imagined He would.
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