SLIGHTING
GOD IN STINGINESS

Topics: Daily Bread; Giving; Gratitude; Provision; Thanksgiving; Tithing

References: Deuteronomy 26:1–11; Psalm 95:2; Luke 17:11–19; Acts 20:35; 2 Corinthians 8:1–15; 9:6–8; Ephesians 5:20

While hurrying through Chicago’s commuter train station, I had an “Aha!” moment that stopped me in my tracks. I had just left the candy counter where I’d bought Valentine’s treats for a party a few of us were planning for our church’s single moms. Doing so took my thoughts back to a cookout the previous summer, for which I had covered the cost. The single moms, their children, and I enjoyed a glorious day at a local sunshine-drenched beach, conversing and stuffing ourselves with burgers, chips, and the trimmings.

As the afternoon ended, I sat among the moms at the picnic table as they enthusiastically divided up the leftover hot dogs, sodas, and desserts. No one thought to offer me a thing. My feelings were a little bruised. No, I didn’t need the food. And most of the moms had given little thought to where the picnic spread had come from. But the slight was significant enough that I recalled it in the train station six months later.

Then it hit me! How much more slighted God must feel when, as recipients of his enormous generosity, we are reluctant to share a portion of our resources with him. Just as I didn’t need the potato salad, he doesn’t need our money. But he does crave our acknowledgment that all we have is from him.

—Judy Keene, Hoffman Estates, Illinois