by Dale Reeves
Story Pastor
Every year in late October or November when the weather starts to turn colder, we usually have a couple of mice that find their way into our home. Since we don’t have any cats as pets, it sometimes takes me a little while to discover our unwanted guests. But sooner or later, the evidence appears . . . crumbs at the bottom of our kitchen pantry . . . small pieces of crackers, plastic wrappers, and of course, the little droppings the mice leave in the middle of the night while we are asleep.
Just before Thanksgiving this year, I opened the pantry door one morning and there I discovered some very small fragments of purple and silver foil and bits of plastic on the floor. I knew there was an unwanted mouse somewhere in our home, and evidently, he had helped himself to one of our disposable communion cups that had been there for quite some time. He must have enjoyed the small wafer and the grape juice, for there was no remnant of either of them—only the packaging. I thought to myself, Well, I’m going to make sure that this meal will be his Last Supper!
That evening before going to bed, I set a few traps for my furry little friend, one inside the pantry, and a few traps set with American cheese in an area of our basement where I have often caught his friends. The next morning, I found one little guy caught in one of the traps in the basement, but a few of the traps were still set, but the cheese had disappeared. I wondered if it was the same mouse, or a second one. It turned out that there was another tiny rodent who seemed to be pretty shrewd in taking the cheese but not losing his life over it. It took me three nights, but eventually I was victorious in eliminating the mouse population from our house last year.
An Offering of Crumbs
When it comes to our relationship with God, there are people who are content coming to church once in a while, and taking communion with others in the church, then when the offering plate is passed (or they walk by a donation box), they give God a “few crumbs”—perhaps out of a sense of guilt.
This past Sunday, our lead pastor Brad Wilson began a series of messages entitled, “Money Talks,” in which he shared that everything we have belongs to God, and we are called to be faithful managers or stewards of all that he has given us. To check out that teaching, click here. On Sunday, Brad was speaking about the story Jesus told in Luke 16 in which our Lord called the manager in the story “shrewd” in the way he dealt with those who owed his boss money. When I heard the word “shrewd,” my mind went to another small rodent, the “shrew,” which took me down the path of my mouse friends. Is my mind the only one that wanders down paths like this during sermons? I know I’m not alone in this.
And, that led me to the thought of how often we look at all that God has given us, we are grateful, but then we turn around and only offer him our leftovers, or “crumbs.” Is our heart for God revealed by how generous or stingy we are with bringing gifts to him and his people in the church? Do we treat God as though he is only deserving of our leftover crumbs, or do we really believe God already owns everything, and we are just supposed to be shrewd managers of what God has blessed us with?
In 1 Chronicles 29:11-14, we read of an aging King David, who exclaimed after many gifts of gold, silver, bronze, and iron were brought to the treasury of the temple of the Lord, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength. O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us!” (NLT).
Free Indeed!
God calls us to be faithful and shrewd managers in the little things and in the big things. He doesn’t need our crumbs. He desires hearts that are completely sold out to him. This will be demonstrated in the way that we give back to him, in the way that we give of our time, and in the way that we love and serve others. The apostle Peter challenges us, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10, emphasis mine, NIV).
As Brad shared last weekend, we all struggle with ownership vs. stewardship. And, even as we’ve been watching the horrific wildfires claim lives and homes of many people living in LA, we know it can all be gone in an instant. All things on this earth are temporary, only our relationship with God, and the seeds we plant through our generosity, are eternal. I would challenge you to examine all your resources (your money, your possessions, your time, your talents), and consider how you can use them for God’s good purposes more effectively.
Back to my mouse friends. They can be very shrewd, finding a very small opening that can give them entrance into a warm house with food. They might sneak around under cover of night, persisting on crumbs for several days, but eventually I will find them out, will catch them, and toss them out to the woods from which they came. And the shrewdest one of all was smart enough to partake of the elements of communion, before giving up his life.
So, when you are tempted to give God only your crumbs, remember the One who gave up his all for us on a Roman cross two thousand years ago. “Crux muscipula diaboli,” a phrase attributed to early church father St. Augustine of Hippo, refers to the idea that the crucifixion of Jesus was a trap set for the devil. The cross was the devil’s mousetrap, because it was the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus that liberated us from our captivity to sin, death, and the devil. We are free indeed, and because of that, our Lord deserves much more than just our crumbs!