Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. —Mother Teresa
I’ve served on some great ministry teams over the years. When Christmas rolled around, we’d like to take them out for a good bash to say thanks for all their service and sacrifice. Some years were different, however. Once, we scrapped our plans and did a service project together as our Christmas party instead.
Seventy-four of us descended on a local middle school and scattered out to help wherever we could. Two of us went to the librarian and said, “We’re available for two and a half hours; put us to work; what do you want us to do?” Her little librarian eyes got big, “Would you please just go through the whole fiction section and put the books back where they belong?” Five man-hours later, we got to the Zs. She looked at our work and said, “Oh, you have no idea what a blessing this is.” (Honestly, I didn’t have any idea, but for her, it was a “blessing” that made her day and saved her a lot of work.) I walked into that school thinking I had nothing to give. I was wrong—not because I had something but because she had a need, and Christ had something to deliver to her through me.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)
What do you give when you feel like you have nothing left? Listen, it’s not that hard. It’s not rocket science. You don’t have to sacrifice your credit score to give sacrificially. If you are in Christ, you are holy and pleasing to God, and Christ is in you. Think about that: Christ is in you. He is your life. Your body is a “living sacrifice” that manifests Jesus to the world today… just as Mary’s did two thousand years ago!
Holy Spirit, open my eyes to the needs around me. Keep me looking for people in our dark, dying, and desperate world who have nothing left to give. Open my eyes to the needs of those who are closest to me. Use me to love them and help them in the name of Jesus. Amen.