How can I refuse to give God so little when he lets me keep so much for myself?!

Dear friends,

Sunday was certainly a day of celebration. Thank yous to the finance commission for making all the arrangements and for all who helped make it an informative and fun day. And may the valentine theme continue as we share experessions of love for each other and for God!

Here is a short stewardship story, that I thought most appropriate, (especially since the menu included crunchy potatoes!):

In the Old Testament God taught the people to tithe – giving back one tenth of all the produce or livestock that they raised. This tithe was then used to feed the poor and to support the temple. One day a potato farmer was reading God’s instructions about the tithe in the Bible, “All tithes of the land, whether in grain from the fields or in fruit from the trees, belong to the Lord, as sacred to Him…The tithes of the herd and the flock shall be determined by ceding to the Lord as sacred every tenth animal as they are counted by the herdsman’s rod.” Leviticus 27:30,32 The potato farmer became angry at the idea that he should give to God one out of every ten of his potatoes so he went out into the field and started throwing potatoes into two piles – nine potatoes for him, one potato for God. Soon his wife came out and found the man no longer angry but sad. He was standing beside one very large stack of potatoes and one smaller stack of potatoes. “Why are you so sad?” she asked. He answered, “God asked me to give back 10% and I thought that was too much. But look how quickly my pile of nine potatoes has grown and look how little His pile of just one potato at a time has grown. How can I refuse to give God so little when he lets me keep so much for myself?!”

Pastor Beth