[440 words]
A certain father was trying to teach his son the value of sacrificing for the things we really want in life. At the moment the boy could think of nothing grander than to own a BB gun. His father wanted to help, so he told the son that he would double anything that the boy saved. That sounded pretty generous and the boy began at once. Things went along pretty well for a while, and the funds grew rapidly. There was no mention of it as the funds grew into $10 saved. Not much by today’ s standards, but there are some children who would have a hard time saving $10 as they rarely see that kind of money. A month or so later the father happened to think of the proposal and asked his son how much money he had saved. Hesitantly, the boy told his father that he didn’t have the money he had saved up. “I spent it for something else,” is all he could mutter. All Dad could see was that his lesson in saving and sacrifice had gone up in some frivolous moment.
The father pressed the son for an explanation, expecting to hear of some trivial and wasteful purchase. “Well, Son, it was your money and if you didn’t really want the gun…” “But, Daddy, I do want the gun. ‘I even dreamed about it, but I bought a Chinese boy instead.” The obvious question was forthcoming, “How in the world did you do that?” The little boy recounted how the Sunday school teacher had informed them that they could contribute money to mission work and help save the souls of other young people just like themselves, so the little boy gave his $10 to help save another soul.
We all know who learned the greatest lesson in sacrifice that day. When a boy can teach a lesson such as this to a grown man, can we as Christians learn just such a great lesson in sacrificing? Not only our time and our money, but our very existence to help save this lost world. God sacrifices His Son for us. What are we sacrificing for Him?
May we carry this same spirit over into an every day attitude of “giving” of ourselves, and may we be encouraged to have the same diligence to show the sincerity of our love for God as we lay by in store each first day of the week. “For God loveth a cheerful giver.” The marvelous thing is that if we do this without a covetous desire, We’ll reap more than we sow. God’s shovel is just bigger than ours.
Terry Broome
Scottsboro, AL