The Collection Plate
Posted by: bigguyhereagain <bigguyhereagain@...>
In some churches the offering plate is not passed.
Instead, those who wish to give march to the front
of the sanctuary and place their offering in the plate.
Imagine for a moment that you are in one of those
churches. The offering prayer has been uttered.
The organist begins the peppy offering march.
People begin to gather in the center isle and
make their way to the front. Nothing out of the
ordinary happens until a fellow steps from the
back pew of the building. Heads turn. The room
hushes of all but the melodious strains of the
pipe organ. The man is dressed in the finest
suit -- obviously hand tailored to fit him and him
only. The mass of humanity opens before him
like the sea at Moses' command. Reaching the
front, this fine fellow dramatically reaches into
his coat pocket, pulls out pen and checkbook,
and with a flourish writes a huge check.
Immediately behind him, un-intimidated by the
show, slowly and painfully creeps a little old
widow who cares for three abandoned grand
children – all on her pittance of a social security
check. Few notice. Some snicker. "What do
we need with her coins after that huge check?"
some ask. Finally reaching the front, the widow
carefully opens a worn coin purse, pulls out its
contents. Silently, timidly she drops them into
the plate. The organ plays on. The people murmur
about the generosity of the rich man. The deacons
rejoice that the new roof is paid for.
Who put the most in the offering? A very strong
argument could be made in favor of the wealthy
man. His check was huge – and it wouldn’t bounce.
His generosity could make or break several mission-
aries. On the other hand, proportionately the widow
made the greater offering – she gave her all – everything
she had. The man gave petty cash! One made a show.
The other made a sacrifice.
The New Testament never really talks about tithing.
It does talk about giving. (Tithing is the practice of
giving 10% of one's income to the Lord.) The reason
tithing is never mentioned is that something greater
is demanded of the Christian believer. Jesus uses
the example of the widow and her two coins to illustrate
the principle. He expects our all – every cent – every
possession – every ounce of flesh – every breath we
breath – every drop of our blood. He expects us to
be "living sacrifices." After all, He set the example
of giving. He gave His very life for us. What less
could we offer Him?
The next time the offering plate is passed your way,
stop and think about the widow. Compare her gift to
yours. Then remember that your offering is just a
token of what God wants – everything! Amen
His father said he had a drug problem. This was said in jest
because, while
Bob did not take drugs, he was drug to church whenever the doors
were opened.
As Bob grew, he lived from one emotional high to another. He had
even
walked the isle when he was nine. He seemed to enjoy the emotion,
but
failed to ever truly accept the salvation offered by Jesus Christ.
Bob's
parents became embarrassed by their son's need to be on an emotional
high.
In time, Bob would graduate high school and attend college. One
day, Bob
picked up a tract distributed by Billy Graham; it was
called "Missing
Heaven by Eighteen Inches". The tract explained that eighteen
inches is
the distance between your head and heart and sometimes what you
think
misses the journey to the heart. It seemed to Bob as if Billy
Graham had
written the tract just for him, "maybe you have grown up in church
and been
baptized, taught Sunday School and may even be a preacher but you
have
never asked Christ to come into your heart and forgive your sin!"
Bob looked at the tract with new eyes. For the first time he
conducted an
honest soul search and found that he was empty, Jesus was not there
and Bob
was not thrilled with what he did find.
In the quiet of his room he bowed his head and surrendered his life
to
Jesus and invited the God of the universe to find a home in his
heart.
For Bob the strangest sensation overcame him; peace and assurance.
No
bells, no whistles, no fireworks, no explosions, just a new heart
that
connected the eighteen inch gap with his head.
Because Bob had been a part of the church all of his life, it was
hard for
those who had seen him grow up to believe that he hadn't actually
accepted
Jesus. Bob asked his pastor to baptize him, "Why? You're a
Christian!"
came the quick reply. Bob quietly replied, "I wasn't before but now
I am."
These days Bob and his parents also connect in a new way. The
embarrassment
of a boy who looked only for an emotional high is replaced with
spiritual
conversation that is edifying to all of them.
Bob's dad recently asked him, "Who will see God?" Bob thought and
replied,
"The pure in heart."
Bob's dad reemphasized what his son already knew; God looks at the
heart
and encourages us to do a self examination to see what we find in
the
depths of our heart and then dispense with those things that we have
conformed to in our world and transform both our hearts and minds by
the
renewing of the Spirit.
God draws each of His children to Himself and we can only love Him
when we
understand that He first loved us and gave Himself for us. This
news is
humbling; it is often received with a sense of awe and incredible
joy.
Bob had heard the stories, he had grown up in church and yet the
message in
his heart did not match the message in his mind. He said yes to a
journey
of eighteen inches and his life will never be the same.
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