The circus came to town. One

of the circus athletes dazzled the crowd by displaying tremendous feats

of strength. He would conclude his muscular act by squeezing an orange

dry. After completing his demonstration, he would then challenge the audience

to produce anyone who could make even one little drip of juice fall from

squeezed fruit. Usually, in town after town, the challenger failed.

On one occasion, a little man

stepped from the audience and accepted the strong man's challenge. The

crowd snickered when they saw how small he was. He stepped onto the stage,

took the shriveled orange, then slowly but firmly compressed his right

hand. Every eye was on him. Electricity filled the air. It seemed like

an eternity. Then finally, a drop of orange juice formed and dripped to

the floor.

As the cheers of the crowd

subsided, the circus performer, astonished at the strength of the little

man, asked him how he managed to develop such strength.

"Nothing to it,"

he grinned. "I happen to be the treasurer of the local church down

the street."

The Bible says, "God loves

a cheerful giver," but how many of us give the way God's Word teaches

us to give? God expects us to give to Him systematically, regularly, proportionately,

liberally, with a heart of joy, love and celebration. Yet study after

study reveals that American Christians give less than 3 percent of their

income to God through their churches. Deep down we realize that God is

the giver of all of life's resources, yet we want to keep those resources

for ourselves.

We have yet to learn how to

invest in something bigger than ourselves.

I heard about a man who flew

to another city to make a speech. Unfortunately, the airlines lost his

luggage and he had to scramble to find a suit at the last minute. His

taxi driver had a local contact that possibly could help him out of his

jam. With time running out, the driver whisked him to the nearest funeral

home, where he could borrow a "black suit" from the undertaker.

When the speaker put on the suit and tried to stuff his pockets with his

wallet, keys, comb, etc., he discovered neither the pants nor the coat

had any pockets. Very pointedly, he was reminded that "you really

can't take it with you."

Since you can't take it with

you, then we need to learn how to use it wisely ohn earth. Many people

have good intentions when it comes to giving. I saw a cartoon in which

the usher stood holding two offering plates full of paper. The usher said

to his pastor standing there, "Your stewardship sermons are getting

better. Still no money, but a lot more IOUs." Good intentions only

go so far. They must be translated into positive action.

Practicing God's principles

of giving, starting with giving a tithe (10 percent of our income) is

the way to a life of spiritual enrichment and blessing. We must learn

that life is too short to hoard "our" money. There are too many

needs out there.

Arnold C. Marts tells of sitting

with an 80-year-old friend who had just made a $100,000 donation to his

church. The old gentleman was really happy about it. Suddenly he pointed

to another elderly gentleman who was walking by. "See that old coot?"

he asked. "He has the same amount of money that I have, but I feel

sorry for him."

When Marts asked why, his friend

said, "He has never learned how to buy any happiness with his money.

His lifetime game has been to be worth more on Dec. 31 than he was on

the previous Jan. 1. So far he has always won."

He may have won his game, but

he has lost at life, for he has missed out on the blessings of giving

cheerfully. He has yet to discover the joy of giving.

The Rev. Dr. David L. Chancey

is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church, Fayetteville.