Giving Mine and Receiving His

I’ve been hungry, but I have never felt the pain of starvation.  I have never known the Vitamin deficiency that is the common result of starvation.  My body has never experienced Atrophy or a wasting away of the stomach and a weakened perception of hunger.  I have never known extreme dehydration.  I have never been to a place where all of my movements become painful, because all of my muscles have turned into food for my starving body.  My skin has never become dry and cracked.  No, I have never reached the point were I was too weak to move or even eat, where my interactions with my surroundings slowly diminished until death.  But this was what this widow, not only risked experiencing, but risked watching, as her son would slowly waste away until death.  What that widow handed Elijah that day was more than a handful flower and some oil, it was her very life, and her son’s life.  She had placed her tomorrow into the Hands of God.  At the end of the day, that is really the point, isn’t it?  Being a Christian is not about how much I give, or how much I do, or how “all together” I am.  Being a Christian has nothing to do with my family name, or political allegiance.  No, being a Christian is being fully and absolutely dependent upon Jesus, to not be afraid, to not reserve myself, hold back, or wall off.  Rather, to pour myself out, expose myself, and become vulnerable. 

A skeptic of the church walked into his pastor’s office one day.  He was fed up with the church’s emphasis on fundraising and wanted the pastor to explain to him what he was required to give to the church.  He expected to hear the pastor tell him 10% of his earnings.  He was prepared for just such an answer, and was ready to pounce on the pastor, for he did not find such direct language in the Bible.  Upon posing the question, the pastor pushed his chair away from his desk, leaned back into his chair, and after a long pause responded, “Well, my son God expects you to give everything.”  The skeptics jaw nearly hit the floor.  His eyes narrowed and his fists clenched.  He stood up, and trying to remain civil retorted with a slightly diluted shout, “EVERYTHING?  EVERYTHING?”  “Do you mean to tell me that God wants me to give 100% of my money to the Church?”  The Pastor quickly responded with a slight chuckle, “oh no son, you don’t understand, I wasn’t talking about your money, I was talking about You.”  You see, you will have given what is required of you when you can no longer say “mine.”  “Give ‘mine’ to God and you will see that ‘His’ is much better.”