Sharing is a Sacrifice

Do no forget to do good to others and to SHARE what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.  Hebrews 13:16

My oldest sister and her crew of three little ones will be filling our tiny home to the brim this coming week!  We will be going from "tiny home, BIG love" to "MEGA love"!  I am so excited about squeezing in together.  Our family is close!  We love being together and relishing every sweet minute of time God gives us.  I am looking forward to time with my sister, nieces and nephew…. letting the kids play, sounds of laughter (and crying, without a doubt), long talks with my big sister about life and the Lord.  There is little else in the world that brings me more pleasure than time with the ones I love!   Yes, there will be a lot of fun, but one thing is for sure…. there will be some cousin "sharing" issues.  And it's safe to say, most of them will have my two year old in the center of the fuss.  

"What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine."  Sound familiar?  Maybe you've heard it used by a woman directed toward her husband (in a joking way, of course).  Well, I have discovered that this is also the mentality of a toddler.  Teaching your little one to share is a tough task.  You talk about it with her and practice it together in your home, but when you are at your play date and it's time to put it into practice in the "toddler real world" it all flies out the window!  So when I found this week's verse in the Bible, it was ground-breaking!  The Bible says to share!  This is one of those treasures in Scripture that I could not have come across at a better time.  This is a great week to learn this verse and have it on our hearts and minds!

But while teaching your child to share is a tough task, I think it is a great task for us to learn as adults.  No matter how "spiritual" or "good" we may think we are (which, we truly are neither)… by nature we are totally selfish.  I openly admit that about myself.  There are just certain things I have a hard time sharing.  For example…. ice cream.  Long story, short version:  I selfishly ate the rest of the ice cream one night when Ken had already said he wanted some.  It was totally wrong of me.  All I could say for myself was that once I started eating it, I couldn't stop… it was so yummy!  Sorry babe!  That is a silly example, but if we really think about it, it is not always easy to do good for  others or to share the things we love the most.  It is most difficult when there is a cost involved, a personal inconvenience, when it isn't comfortable, or especially when it involves giving up something we feel entitled to.  In Hebrews 13:16 the Lord is telling us that doing good and sharing is a sacrifice.  A sacrifice never came without a cost…. something has to be given up in order to sacrifice.  There is a cost in putting others before yourself.  And the cost is your selfishness.

If you are a believer in Christ, verse 15 comes with great news!  It says that we offer God sacrifices of praise, not through our own power, but "through Jesus".  It is something we can not do on our own.  It is not something always natural for our children that they will always do on their own.  But through Christ we can!  I am excited to teach my daughter and nieces this sweet truth… that sharing and doing good makes God smile AND when it is not easy to do it on our own, we can rely on Him!