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Did you read, as I did, that report in a Readers Digest some time back, of a minister announcing to his church? He said: "There's bad news, and there's good news, and then there's bad news again. Let's start with the bad news: the church roof is dangerous and must be replaced and it's going to cost a lot of money.The good news is we already have all the money required to fix it and quite a lot left over. The bad news is - It's all in your pockets and bank balances ..."
I love that story because it tells the truth. I suggested to the church of which I was then the minister that together that very week we could change the mood of the town simply by looking around us seeking people in real need and then expressing our compassion in giving a meaningful gift, without strings attached. Well after the service these were some of the comments: 'I simply can't afford to do that': 'We're not made of money you know': 'We just haven't got the money', and I did understand as that's exactly how I felt when I looked at what I had. Yet that week the Government were selling off shares in some of our national property and the banks were thronged with people (including the ones who on Sunday hadn't any money) drawing large cheques to buy shares: 'Bound to make a quick profit old boy'. Suddenly people were coming out of the woodwork with literally hundreds of thousands of pounds to invest. Make no mistake, it is not money that is scarce.
A couple I knew were going through a hard time. He had lost his job, she was not well and expecting their first baby.They had lots of sympathy given and much head shaking, but then they showed me an anonymous letter they'd received which simply said: "The Lord told me to send you this", and it was a wonderfully generous cheque -a gift.The gift of giving made the sun rise on that home and family, which took it as a new dawn. The giver would never know the joy he or she had caused.
This is Paul writing in Philippians: Philippians 4:15,18
Not one church shared with me in respect to giving and receiving, except you only ...I am amply supplied, now that I have received ... the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God."
Go on, make someone's day - give someone who needs it some money, and make your own day at the same time.
A Prayer:
"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy " Philippians 1: 3 and 4.
Now read Psalm 100 and rejoice.
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