Good morning:
In the 1960s there was a certain young boy. Each Saturday, his parents gave him fifty cents to place in the offering plate at church on the next day. He was told that it was important to give money to Jesus and important to learn to be responsible by keeping track of the money. Each week he placed those two quarters into the offering plate both because he wanted to and because his parents told him he had to.
When he was about six years old, the local corner store had a sale on swiss army knives. The price was fifty cents. The boy saw this sale and was tempted. He was tempted to take the money his parents had given him to put in the offering plate and instead buy the swiss army knife. Fifty cents might not seem like much today, but to the boy in the 1960s it meant a whole lot. It meant the difference between having a brand new shiny utility knife or putting his parents’ money where it was supposed to go.
The boy had a small responsibility. The church was not going to live or die based on his fifty cent offering. However, when the boy bought the swiss army knife, he failed in his responsibily to his parents and to his Savior. Jesus survived without the fifty cents. His parents took away the knife when they found out and the boy learned a lesson in responsibilty.
As much as we have here on this earth, in the grand scheme of things, we only have fifty cents. Even if we were the richest person on earth, it is nothing compared to riches that await us. God wants us to use the little that we do have to be faithful to him. Faithful in our talents, faithful in our time, and faithful in our treasures. Large or small God’s want us to be faithful. Jesus said in Luke 16:10 “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.”
We are not always faithful, but how grateful we can be that our God is faithful to us. He is faithful in the small things of caring for us here on earth, and he is faithful in the much larger event of our salvation. Praise be to our faithful God.
In Christ, Pastor Naumann
