stewardship

The month of August at our church is our "Stewardship Month." There is at least one message per week on giving. The Lord has really been blessing my heart through many of the sermons. Well, I'm still trying to finish reading through the Bible by the end of this summer and I have been in II Chronicles for a bit.

One thing I noticed about stewardship was in regards to Solomon building the temple. He had everything made of gold. My thought was...good thing he wasn't a Baptist pastor. Can't you hear the people in his congregation now complaining that he was spending too much money? I mean...gold nails, isn't that a little unneccesary? Too often, we don't want to be sacrificial.

Another king (sorry I don't have my Bible in front of me), put a chest out in front of the palace or temple for the people to fill because they were going to do some repairs. The people filled up the chest in one day and the king kept putting the chest out day after day and the people continually filled it. They were cheerfully giving.

Then to top off this month, the sermon tonight was on being sacrificial. Yes, the speaker touched on the topic of giving sacrificially but I took away the thought of giving myself sacrificially. I love to give to others. It's just in my nature. But I never give of my time or talents or money sacrifically. Never...or hardly ever...next-to-never. You get the point.

I don't give my life sacrifically to my Savior. Willing to commit my life to Him? Sure, when it fits into my framework. Willing to give a tithe & offering? Absolutely, just so long it doesn't empty my bank account. Even my talents, I don't give sacrifically. One of my biggest problems is not wanting the hard road. My mind thought to my cello lessons. I have not been practicing my cello much lately because I've been busier. But, sure, I could sacrifice my time to practice but I simply don't want to. Sacrificing my time is developing the talent that the Lord gave me. How sinful I am!!! A point was made tonight and I wrote it in my Bible: Sacrifice is worship. (Of course, it's not just sacrifice...there's more to worship than just that but it does include sacrifice.)

I just wanted to share and be an encouragement. We are so blessed in America but we have to have our comforts. Am I advocating living a minimalist life with two outfits and eating greens for the rest of our lives? No. But I know that Americans can do without a lot of what we have. Just wanted to share with you tonight because I was so challenged, so convicted tonight. Blessed to be convicted, for sure!