Generous in Theory

A missionary once asked a new convert, “Pablo, if you had a hundred sheep, would you give fifty of them to the Lord’s work?”

He answered, “You know I would gladly give them.”

“Pablo, if you had fifty cows, would you give twenty-five to the Lord’s work?”

“Yes, you know I would be more than happy to do that.”

Again the missionary asked, “Pablo, if you had two pigs, would you give one of them to the Lord’s work?”

“That’s not fair,” Pablo replied. “You know I have two pigs.”

Many people are extremely generous in theory but not in practice. They say, “If I only had a million dollars, I would give half of it away.” This is simply not true. If we aren’t faithfully giving even ten percent of our money right now, we wouldn’t give away half a million dollars if we had it. (Kent Crockett, Making Today Count for Eternity, Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2001, p. 151-152)