WHOSE CALF IS DEAD?

WISDOM NUGGETS: "We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers."

                                                                                                           - Seneca

Simple Gift
Source: Photopin

 

 

 Whenever there is an opportunity to give, it has everything to do with us, we are the chief beneficiaries of our giving. Isn't it interesting then how people withhold from giving?

 

A preacher once told a story that perfectly illustrates this point.

 

One day a farmer went happily and with great joy in his heart to report to his wife and family that their best cow had given birth to twin calves, one red and one white. And he said, “You know I have suddenly had a feeling that we must dedicate one of these calves to the Lord. We will bring them up together, and when the time comes we will sell one and keep the proceeds, and we will sell the other and give the proceeds to the Lord’s work.” His wife asked him which he was going to dedicate to the Lord. “There is no need to bother about that now,” he replied, “we will treat them both in the same way, and when the time comes we will do as I have said.” And off he went. In a few months the man entered his kitchen looking very miserable and unhappy. When his wife asked him what was troubling him, he answered, “I have bad news to give you. The Lord’s calf is dead.” “But,” she said, “You had not decided which was to be the Lord’s calf.” “Oh yes,” he said; “I had always decided it was to be the white one, and it is the white one that has died. The Lord’s calf is dead.”

 

We may laugh at that story, but we may simply be laughing at ourselves. How many times has the Lord's calf died in your possession? When money becomes difficult, the first thing we economize or eliminate is our contribution to charity.

 

As Audrey once said, "You will discover that you have two hands. One is for helping yourself and the other is for helping others."

 

“What is it a man has”, Jesus asked, “that he did not receive?” Why then do men struggle with letting go of just a portion of all that they have been blessed with?

 

Remember Seneca's words: "We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers."