Stretch A Little, Give A Lot

Today, Michael Grasso is my guest blogger.  I met Mike at my men’s group (M.E.A.T. – Men Eating and Talking) last week, and we quickly discovered that we shared a passion for blogging.  Mike writes some great stuff, so please check him out at his blog.  Mike shares his stretching thoughts below.

America = Greedy, money-grubbing, materialistic, sinners.

Ok now that I have your attention let’s talk. There are over 250 verses in the Bible about money, some good some bad. What I want to encourage you to do is give a lot, even if it means you have to stretch a little. The first 10% goes to God. There is no question there, some will say God asks us for too much. Uh, hello didn’t you just pray for a plasma screen TV. Who is asking much of whom? We often need to take a step back and dwell on what we ask of God. We ask for healing, we ask for strength, we ask for love, we ask for forgiveness. To me 10% is a good deal for all that I am getting for it. Can you truly put a price on love or forgiveness? Think about it this way, everything you have is God’s, so that 10% was His to begin with. Do you truly think that if Jesus Christ was walking down the street today and found $20 on the ground that He would just put it in his pocket and be happy that lunch is on someone else? Jesus would use that $20 to bless someone.

I strongly encourage you to try this, take a bill that you feel you can truly give and not foreclose on your house. Set it aside in your wallet/purse and pray, tell God that you set this aside to bless someone, God will guide you. You may be out at lunch, grocery shopping, picking the kids up from ball practice, whatever it may be God will place someone in your path to bless. I know you probably think that I am crazy, asking who does this kind of stuff, Christians do. Christ followers need to be seen as givers. Again think about what Jesus gave us. Psalm 23:1 – “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Let’s not want, but want to give.

Blessing is like a viral infection, in a good way. When you take a moment to bless someone, they may take a moment to bless another and so on. This of course only works if you get the ball rolling. So keep that 10% going to God, but I ask you to stretch, and bless someone this week.

Are you willing to take the blessing challenge? If you do please share your blessing story.

(If you’re interested in sharing your stretch stories as a guest blogger, please leave me a comment.  I love to hear and share your stories.)