Moving across the country can be a traumatic affair. What do we keep? What do we let go? The pressure is compounded if we’ve lived in one place a very long time and accumulated a treasure trove of memories.
How do we turn loose of what we love?
We pick up Grandma’s special vase, and we set it on the giveaway pile. We earmark the sofa and the bedroom furniture for the estate sale. Anything that goes on the moving truck we pay for by the mile. We have to be sure it is extremely important to us.
How do we turn loose of what we love?
Bobby’s second grade artwork? Packed. The African mask from our first mission trip? We hesitate, then set it off to decide on later. Pictures of our first car? We take a deep breath and drop them in the shredder.
How do we turn loose of what we love?
Our aged pets, too feeble to survive the journey. Now it’s gotten hard. We have to make a decision, and yet we can’t.
How do we turn loose of what we love?
There is one thing we keep tightly clasped in our fist. We never let the money go, disposing of things we really want to keep to lower the moving costs. Cash. Money. Moolah. We want to keep it all.
How do we turn loose of what we love?
We make our move and find a new church. We want to give in the offering plate. Yet, we remember all the important things we left behind, and we know the trade we’ve made. The money we have in our hand came from the bedroom furniture and the African mask. From Grandma’s vase we didn’t have to pack. From our pets, no longer with us. It feels like blood money, and we drop it in the plate, wondering how well it will be used in this new church’s budget.
God says we must turn loose of what we love. Leviticus 27:30 tells us that what we give unto him becomes holy. It is no longer ours. It has taken on a new level of meaning as a possession that belongs to God.
We have not given to the church. We have given to God.
We have turned loose of what we love.
When we choose to give of what we love, it is God who receives the gift, even when we place it in the hands of men.
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