Spiritual Disciplines - Giving Series

Spiritual Discipline - Giving

August 15, 2021

One day a dad was out with his 5 year old son. The boy was hungry and the dad asked him what he wanted to eat. The boy simply wanted McDonald’s french fries. Easy enough! So, they went to McDonald’s. The dad wanted to make it a fun day, so instead of getting a small fry, he asked to have it super-sized.

The boys eyes widened and the smile was precious. It was definitely worth it. Finally, the fries were ready and they sat down and he dug in. He was enjoying the fries. He was smiling, yet very seriously eating those delicious fries.

Then something happened . . . the dad wanted to join in on the fun. So he reached over to grab a couple of fries. And to his surprise, his son quickly put his arms around his fries and said, “No, they’re mine.” It was shocking. It had never happened before.

The dad thought about what was happening. He was thinking, my son failed to realize that I am the source of those French fries. He bought the fries. In fact, he expected something smaller - - and I gave him more than he expected. Yet, he’s calling them MINE!

Of course, the dad knew he was much bigger and if he wanted he could take away the fries. Or, if he wanted he could go back to the counter and order more fries, so that his son could never eat all of them.

His son also didn’t understand that the dad didn’t need the fries. He could get his own.

What the dad wanted was for his son to invite him into the moment that he actually made possible. He wanted his son to share the blessings he received.

We have been given blessings like this from God. God wants us to join Him in these blessings, but He also wants us to share the blessings.

God blesses you and me. He’s given us all some french fries. Some have small bags, others medium, others large and some super size. I don’t care where the fries com from. They can be curly, steak, spicy, salty, unsalted . . . the point is - - God has given us all some fries.

We have this amazing opportunity to share our fries with God as we dine with Him. It’s that great passage in Revelation 3:20, when Jesus said - -

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Jesus wants to sit down with us, as we sit down with Him and eat together. To share the intimacy of this communal meeting. There’s something about being with Jesus like this. He invites us to eat with Him, while He eats with us. There’s a sense of sharing with one another.

Yet, I wonder how different we might be or would we be the same as that boy. As we sit with Jesus to eat, He sees those fries, which He’s provided for us . . . and He just reaches across to take a few, and what’s our response?

“Hey, what are you doing? Those are mine.” Or would we push our plate towards Him and say, “take what you want and enjoy with me.”

We need to realize that everything we have comes from God. He is the source of all that we have. God provides for us, even when we don’t feel like it’s happening. God has theability to give and to take away.

And at the same time we realize that God doesn’t need our french fries, and we get the joy to share our fries with God. God does not ask us to give because God is hurting and in desperate need.

God asks us to give because God wants us to be like Him. God is the greatest Giver of all. He’s modeled that for us and He wants us to model that for the world. In the great verse in John 3:16, Jesus tells us

16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

God gave His Son as a gift. Need I say more!?

Well, we’re talking about Spiritual Disciplines and today if you haven’t figured it out, we’re looking at the discipline of GIVING. I’ll give you an interesting fact - -

when I did my doctorate, I worked on Spiritual Disciplines. And as I was planning this series and doing research, I was shocked that giving is not a spiritual discipline. There was no mention of giving in any book I read. And I’ve got about 30 books on spiritual disciplines, but nothing.