When I was in high...
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When I was in high school, our youth group would have a food drive each year. Every fall we were asked to bring in canned goods. And everyone in our youth group looked forward to that food drive. You see, it was the one time each year when we had the opportunity to go through our mothers' shelves of canned goods and remove those things that we had no interest in eating.
So into the food drive bag went cans of spinach and turnips and broccoli and, of course, brussels sprouts. Everyone was a winner in the food drive, I figured. The poor people got canned goods, and we got rid of the brussels sprouts and all the other vegetables that God never intended for us to eat in the first place.
Now over the years I have come to see that my zeal for those food drives was not prompted by the highest of motives. I gave away what I did not want. I gave away what was left over. Yet many of us today are still motivated in our giving by a theology of brussels sprouts. When it comes to sharing our time, talents and treasure with the church, far too often we find that our motives are less than perfect. Instead of giving our best to God, we hand God our brussels sprouts. -- Bowen
So into the food drive bag went cans of spinach and turnips and broccoli and, of course, brussels sprouts. Everyone was a winner in the food drive, I figured. The poor people got canned goods, and we got rid of the brussels sprouts and all the other vegetables that God never intended for us to eat in the first place.
Now over the years I have come to see that my zeal for those food drives was not prompted by the highest of motives. I gave away what I did not want. I gave away what was left over. Yet many of us today are still motivated in our giving by a theology of brussels sprouts. When it comes to sharing our time, talents and treasure with the church, far too often we find that our motives are less than perfect. Instead of giving our best to God, we hand God our brussels sprouts. -- Bowen
