You are obsessed with something, and you always over-spend on your obsession. Examples: golf, your home, food, entertainment, your kids, your image, your hobbies, etc.
Once upon a time The Boss of everyone sat down to watch people tithing. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And The Boss of everyone called His friends to Him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has PUT IN EVERYTHING SHE HAD, ALL SHE HAD TO LIVE ON.”
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A liturgy before giving [by Doug McKelvey]
In truth, I have nothing but You, O Christ,
nothing that I might call my own.So let that good confession now
compel a better stewardship.First teach me to treasure
You, Jesus above all things. Then
let that increasing devotion be
increasingly demonstrated in a joyful
generosity – for to give is to live out
the declaration that You alone
are my provision and supply. I need
not fear what comes tomorrow.When I give to meet the needs of
others, when I give to the work of
those who serve the poor, the sick,
the oppressed, when I give to the
service of Your body and Your
Kingdom, I give not what is mine,
but only what is already Yours. With
every charitable act I am simply
practicing the fact that nothing which
passes through my hands has ever
belonged to me. You are my generous
master. Make me Your faithful trustee,
teaching me to live as a wiser conduit
of this liberal grace, learning
to hold loosely the things of
this world, never hoarding that
which is Yours, never seeking
the mean preservation of my
own comforts. Rather let me love
well in my giving, even as You,
O Father, have loved me so well
by giving me all things in Christ.Let me make each offering without
thought of temporal gain. Let me give
precisely because I have believed
Your promises are true – and let
my giving be the proof. If You
are my shepherd, then I am freed
to live generously, knowing
I will never want for any
needful thing – knowing that any
seeming deprivation is but
the work of your Spirit weaning
me from a world of things and
winning me to greater dependence
upon Christ my King.So why should I grasp at that which I cannot
keep? This body will sleep in death and what
I now hold so briefly will pass into the keeping
of another. I own nothing here. I have no claim.
Dispel the myth of my possessions, lest they
taint that better hope of Heaven.Rather let me learn, while I draw breath,
to live with open hands and
joy-filled heart, investing Your resources
in Your good works. Let me plant
these mortal seeds in expectation
of immortal harvests.Bless now, O Lord, this gift and its benefits,
that it might be received as evidence of
Your mercies, and multiplied in effectiveness
for Your kingdom. Through this and other acts
of giving, train my heart toward a greater
generosity, that the habits of my stewardship
might be ever more pleasing to You, and ever
more expressive of Your own holy heart
and passions.All that I have is Yours, Lord Christ.
All that I have is You.Use then this small gift
for works of love and mercy,
and unto the increase of
Your glory.Amen.
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