So this morning as I was driving to work, singing along with Third Day or whatever band happened to be playing on Spirit FM, a thought dawned on me. When we go out to eat we tip our waitress at least 15%, usually more. You don't want to have "Cheap" stamped on your forehead because after all your waitress was just your personal servant for the last hour, the least you can do is give her that 15%. But when it comes to giving to God, the creator of the UNIVERSE, we give the bare minimum. I know that I am guilty of it. I get my check and take out that small 10%, and I'm ashamed to admit it, but sometimes I don't even give God that. We tip our waitress because she is nice to us. She (or he) brings us our food, refills our drinks and makes sure we are having a great experience... but here's the deal... God created the whole world. He knew us before we were even a thought in our parents mind, if you don't believe me read Psalm 139! He is with us every moment of everyday, He answers our prayers, He listens to us complain, He has planned out an amazing life for us... but we still give Him the minimum. A half hour of our time here, 15 minutes there... 10% from this paycheck and none from the next. But we make sure and tip our waitress extra every time we go out... are you seeing the picture I'm painting here? It's great to be generous with the people we meet, but shouldn't God be our number one? Shouldn't it still be important to give to God? This thought was so convicting for me. I give more than I need to to my waitress because I don't want her to think badly of me, it doesn't matter if she is good or bad at her job, I'm going to give that 20% or 25%... if I go to my old job I often give 50% because I know the girls that work there. But when it comes to my relationship with God I do what I can to scrape by. I spend 15 minutes talking to Him in the morning, check Him off my list and move on. Am I really giving God less than I give my waitress?? God doesn't just want 15 minutes of my time, or 15 dollars from a paycheck... He wants everything I am.
"In the same way, any of who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."-Luke 14:33
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