Like I said a couple of days ago, God showed me a lot over the Christmas break. One thing He gave me was a good picture of His perspective on giving. We went to our sons and told them that since they were getting new toys for Christmas, they needed to give up some of the toys they already had. The reasoning behind that was partly to clear out toys and clear out some clutter, but the other part of it was for our sons to understand that they had a lot and needed to be concerned about people who didn’t have so much.

Well, they freaked out. Lots of crying and wailing and anguish because they didn’t want to give up anything that they had, their broken busted toys that didn’t even work anymore. I’m trying to explain to them about all of the cool new toys and how cool it will be to get them, and I know how many new toys there are and how much they’ll love them, and I’m not asking them to get rid of all of their toys, just 5 or 10 of them. Still they complained and grumbled and threw fits. And I was struck by how much we act like them when God asks us to give, a tithe or $5 or whatever. And we cry and complain, never thinking about what God has given us or wants to give us.

We behave so much like children, it’s no wonder He calls Himself the Father. Oh yeah, eventually they came around and gave up some toys. And not for what they were going to receive, but because they realized they had so much and wanted to give. That was pretty cool.

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