Sacrificial Giving

SACRIFICIAL GIVING

 

      I spent some time just this past week sitting in a hospital room with Bill. We talked about his growing up years, playing golf, and how he came to Western North Carolina. Bill told these stories with much enthusiasm, sprinkling them with sly humor. Then, Bill paused and told this awesome story from years ago.

      When Bill and his wife, Mary Lou, lived in Gastonia some years ago, they read in the newspaper of an unusual story of a young woman who had just given birth to quadruplets. Doing some research, Mary Lou found where this young, single, disadvantaged woman lived and knocked on her door the day she came home from the hospital. A young mother answered the door with a baby in her arms and the other three crying in the small room. After Mary Lou introduced herself, she said, “I am here to help you take care of these babies. I will bathe them, change diapers, wash the diapers, and prepare food and feed these babies. I am here to help.” For the next two years or longer, Mary Lou was there, every day faithfully doing all those things that she had promised. As the years went by, Mary Lou became the “second mother” to these four young children.

      This coming Saturday, Bill and Mary Lou will attend the high school graduation of the four “now grown babies.” Eighteen years ago, Mary Lou made a promise, a promise she faithfully kept. Sounds a lot like a promise Jesus made to us, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” Thanks, Mary Lou, for showing us the heart of Jesus.

      Is this not what Jesus was trying to tell his disciples on the night of his arrest by washing their feet? After Jesus had finished his act of service, he said, “I have given you an example: just as I have done, you must do. I assure you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are those sent greater than the one who sent them.”

      I recently received an e-mail from my nephew who relates yet another story of sacrificial love. Scott writes that as he and the ministry team loaded a truck with supplies for the tornado victims in Oklahoma, a little boy rode up on his bicycle. The boy told the men that he had something to give to those who have lost so much. Not seeing anything in the boy’s hands or on his bike, they asked, “What is it that you want to give?” The little boy jumped off his bike as he said, “Here, I want to send my bike to Oklahoma for someone who has lost theirs.” Scott said that they found a new owner for the bike in Oklahoma, took a picture of the boy holding the bike, and when they returned were able to show the picture to the little boy with the big heart.

      Maybe this is the lesson from the story of the widow who put two pennies, all the money she had, in the collection plate. Jesus said, “She has given more than all the others because she has given everything she had.”

      The spirit of Jesus stirred the hearts of Mary Lou and the little boy, moving them from belief to action, resulting in the transformation of lives including their own.

      Where are we in these stories? Are we holding on tightly to “things,” our possessions, when others are needy? Are we reluctant to give of ourselves when others are struggling?  Let’s ask God to put someone or some situation in our path today so that we can make a difference.       

Rev Tim McConnell Long’s Chapel UMC June 9, 2013