FROM THE PULPIT: THE CHURCH IS NOT SLEEPER SOFA HEAVEN

While traveling on a recent vacation, I was listening to a call-in talk show on the car radio. The host, "Dan the Answer Man," was giving advice on a variety of subjects.

One caller asked Dan if he knew the best option for disposing of a second-hand, old-style, full-length, sleeper sofa in worn out condition.

Dan suggested the caller sell it at a yard sale. The caller responded she tried to, but she couldn't even prompt people to make her an offer. No one wanted it.

Dan asked if she had recently married children or a student in college needing "start-up" furniture. The caller said her children lived in small, high-rise apartments. They had neither use nor room for it.

Dan cracked a joke about keeping the sofa for hosting unwanted, overnight guests. If the sleeper sofa was so uncomfortable, perhaps they wouldn't stay too long. The called was not amused.

Dan became serious again and suggested she leave it on the curbside for the trash man. She said she checked with her trash service and it was too large for their trucks.

Dan offered, "Well, if you can't sell it or give it away, and if it's not good enough for the trash man, I suggest you donate it to the church."

When Dan the Answer Man made that remark, I almost drove off the road. While the church operates on the generous giving and voluntary donations of its members, it is not a dumping ground or last resort for something that has no tangible use and items no one else wants.

The Bible speaks about the importance of the giving to God from the "first fruits," the best portion of our time and talent. If God is a priority in our lives, our giving ought to show it. Yet too often we give from the left-overs and the things we have as "extra" after we satisfy our wants and desires. Our pattern of giving is evidence of where we hold God in our lives.

Proper giving swells in our hearts as a response of gratitude. The apostle Paul said giving out of compulsion or reluctance fails to honor God. God loves the cheerful giver who gives with a thankful heart.

There's a place for donations of old sleeper sofas when given with the right motive. I served a church that had a "youth house" furnished with old sofas. The congregation gave them to honor God and to make possible a ministry to the youth. The difference was their motive.

I hope you stop for a moment and ask yourself what prompts your giving to God. Do you consider money the only way to serve God? What motivates the amount?

Our pattern of giving (of time, energy, and money) reveals our honest commitment to God. Our giving tells us truthfully if God is the priority we profess. For the indescribable gift given to us in Jesus Christ, God deserves our very best.

Grant Gillard is pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson.