I heard on the Wal-mart Radio Network this morning that Americans spend several hundred million dollars each year on… golf balls. Golf balls. No really. Children go hungry. Churches scrounge for funds. Missionaries go broke. The lost die and go to Hell. But at least we have our golf balls.
Then I overheard a lady mention that she spent upwards of $120 on a dress to where to the Easter service this Sunday. Ignoring for now the pagan nature of Easter… One-hundred and twenty dollars for a dress? For one service? Really? Where something old and drop that in the offering plate if you seem to have it to spare. Believe me, God will love you a lot more in your old garb if your heart brings about such a sacrificial offering for the furtherance of the gospel.
I’m writing to myself more than anyone. I’m afraid to count the investment we have in entertainment. I spend four dollars a day at work just on pop and junk food. That’s $80 a month that I could instead give as an offering to the Lord without feeling any financial strain at all, and that alone would just about make up 10% of my income per month. (Christians should at least give 10% if the lost under the Law could in a tithe… If you can give 12, 15, or 20%, better still.)
Ah, America. Home of the free. Land of the material.