The story is told of a father who took his son to McDonald’s. The dad bought the son a large order of fries. While they were sitting at the table, the dad reached over to take a couple of fries. He was shocked when his son pulled the fries away and said, “No. These are mine!” The father reflected on his son and the fries and thought, “My son has no idea that I am the source of his fries. I paid for them and the server gave him the fries. I am the reason he has these fries.” “Not only am I the source of the fries, but being the dad, I have the power to take those fries away from him, or I can go back to the counter, give the server fifty dollars and tell him to bury my son in fries.”
“My son doesn’t understand, I don’t need his fries. I can buy a large serving of my own.” He further reflected, “as a dad I realized that I didn’t want his fries as much as his willingness to share them with me.”
Can you relate this story to your relationship with God? We should know better, but isn’t it true that we sometimes forget that our Heavenly Father is the Source of all that we are and have…and that includes our McDonalds fries? If we pull away from God and say, “no, I won’t share with You or others, it’s mine!” God may have to gently remind us that He is the Source of “every good and perfect gift, it is He, “the Lord that gives and the Lord that takes away” (James 1:17, Job 1:21).
Thank God for reminding us that nothing is really “mine,” it is His! God is so generous towards us. Sticking to our metaphor, He buries us in fries! All He asks of us, is to be willing to share. Not because He needs anything, after all, He owns it all, but because it is for our own good and our own growth. Sister White says it best. “The very act of giving expands the heart of the giver and unites him more fully to the Redeemer of the world.”1 By giving, we draw closer to Christ2 and become more like God;3 we develop a character for heaven.4
Bill Ochs, Planned Giving and Trust Services Director
1 White, The Review and Herald, Oct. 31, 1878.
2 White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 405.
3 White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 255.
4 White, The Review and Herald, May 16, 1893.