THUD. My mom’s vacuum hit a long-forgotten
object under my bed - the brownies I baked months earlier and then hid to keep
my brothers from eating them. STINGY. She labeled me quite accurately. Those
moldy brownies spoke the ugly truth of my greed.
We are all stingy at times. If I
don’t want to find the Peanut M&M’s bag empty, I better hide it, right?
Look around you and you’ll find that being stingy has become our way of life.
The average size of an American home has nearly tripled in the last 50 years in
an effort to house all of our stuff. Inside of an average American home, there
are about 300,000 items. If we can’t fit all of it inside our homes, we’ll
solve that by renting an extra storage unit!
Let’s shift focus a
bit and ask ourselves a serious question. Is our stingy nature spilling over onto
our spiritual lives? Soak up these statistics:
· 82% of people are at least “somewhat likely” to go to church if
invited.
· Only 2% of Christians actually invite anyone to church in any given
year.
· 7 out of 10 unchurched people have never been invited to church in
their whole lives.
Yes,
it is sad and clear that we are as STINGY with our spiritual lives as I was
with the hidden brownies. These statistics make me feel more ashamed of myself
now than I felt back when my mom found those forgotten and ruined brownies.
Shame is an uncomfortable emotion, but it is sometimes just what we need to
prompt us to change our ways.
Jesus spelled out directions for His
followers explaining how to spread the news of salvation and His love. This is
Jesus saying to us, “I want you to do something for me.” If Jesus is asking,
then our answer is always YES. So, what are these directions that Jesus is
giving to us? They are found in the book of Matthew:
Jesus, undeterred,
went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to
commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way
of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be
with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the
age.” Matthew 28:19-20 The Message (MSG)
The time is always right to share
your faith and to invite someone to worship with your church family. The church
exists to make disciples of Jesus - to carry out the directions Jesus gave us.
Make your mind up to invite someone to worship. Challenge your church friends
to invite someone to worship. Ask in person, make a call, send a text, post on
social media- do them all. JUST DON’T BE
STINGY WHEN IT COMES TO JESUS.
