| Cross Words: Give and Take |
Richard Prow ~ rpcrosswords@gmail.com
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I love my in-laws. No, really. But without meaning to sound superficial or materialistic, I’m even a little more fond of them at Christmas.
As tradition follows, each child and child-in-law receives a couple of gifts as well as an envelope with cash inside. Usually if my wife puts her money with mine - or is it that I put mine with hers - we have enough cash to pay for all of our purchases for the entire Christmas season.
In return for my in-laws generosity my wife and I buy them presents that cost a fraction of what they’ve given to us. And to top it off they are completely content and overjoyed with what we give them. Okay there was one year when they didn’t love their gifts but that was strictly a matter of taste (theirs of course not ours).
When God asks us to give 10% of what we make back to His work, we need to realize He’s given us 100% of all we have. In other words, He’s footing the bill for our offering. Metaphorically, He’s giving us the money to buy Him a present. Every parent of a small child should easily be able to grasp that concept.
God is a giver by nature. He feeds and clothes us and asks us to give a small percentage back of what He’s given. He gives us life and He simply asks us to use some of our time serving others. He grants salvation to all who would call on His name and in return He asks us to trust and follow Him. When you think about it, it’s a win, win proposition for us. We definitely take more than we give.
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