Think of how good that would feel!

I wrote previously on the “speech” or “sermon” I
delivered at church a couple of weeks ago that
apparently resulted in record giving to the
church's Deacons Fund. If I were going to deliver
a follow-up, I'd probably say something like this:

A few weeks ago I appealed to you to be
especially generous in your giving to the Deacons
Fund, as we had church members in dire need and
the fund was empty. As you've probably heard, we
had record donations to the Deacons Fund, and
because of your generosity, the needs of a member
of our church have been taken care of. Doesn't it
feel good to know that your giving made a
big difference in someone's life?

When I appealed to you to be generous in your
giving to the Deacons Fund, I mentioned that the
early Christians would sell their belongings to
help others, and that they would fast to allow
others to eat. I suggested that if you felt you
weren't able to give anything right now, you could
have a yard sale and give the proceeds to the
Deacons Fund. I also suggested you could eat rice
and beans instead of steak and give the money you
save to the Deacons Fund, or stay home and watch
TV instead of going out to a movie, and give the
money you save to the Deacons Fund.

I doubt that anybody actually had to fast to be
able to give to the fund, but I wouldn't be
surprised if some of you actually did eat rice and
beans, or skipped going to a movie or other
entertainment.

Even if you had to sacrifice something to be able
to give, maybe especially if you had to
sacrifice something, didn't it feel good? When
you know that doing without something is doing
good for someone else who needs it, you really
don't miss it, and it actually feels good to give
it up.

There are a lot of people in the world who need
our help. We have much more than we need, while
others struggle just to feed themselves. Nearly a
billion human beings are chronically
undernourished, and perhaps as many as 60 million
of them starve to death each year. Consider this:
half the people on this planet live on two dollars
a day or less. Think how little you'd have to
change your life to make an enormous difference in
the life of somebody who lives on two dollars a
day. Buy the cheaper brands when you go grocery
shopping, and you could save enough at every meal
to feed a person for an entire day. Carpool to
work with a couple of coworkers, and between you,
you could feed an entire family every day. Make
do with the old car instead of buying a new one,
and you could feed an entire village.

Think of what else you could do to make a
difference in the lives of others. Think of how
little you'd have to give up to make a big
difference to someone else. And think of how good
that would feel.