Generosity Versus Sacrifice

I never really thought about the difference between these two things until tonight. My youngest daughter gave up watching the movie she wanted to watch tonight so that her sister could watch the movie she wanted to watch (and the one I wanted to watch as well). She won the game of chance that decided which movie to watch and had every right to watch it, but she still gave it up -- in spite of (or maybe because of) her sister's hissy fit at losing.

I thought later that "She sacrificed something for her sister. She rocks." The I thought maybe I was using the wrong word in my head. She was being nice. She gave something up. But its not like she gave up her favorite toy. What IS the difference between sacrificing for someone and being generous?

I think these two terms are very related. I don't think there's a hard line between them either. Let's look at examples from either end of the spectrum though:

Say someone gives $50,000 to fund a scholarship so someone can go to college. If that person was a millionaire, I don't think that was much of a sacrifice, though it was a generous thing to do. If that person was the grocery bagger at the local store and that money was for their own college tuition, it was a pretty big sacrifice on their part -- I think it goes well beyond whatever the traditional bounds of generosity are.

What was the criteria for sacrifices in Old Testament times? Quite often it was the first and best of things, was it not? God didn't want to be given the sickly runt animal that was going to die in two days anyway, did He? No! You didn't give God one of those! You gave him the favorite, best, most perfect one you had!

I think that's where the line gets crossed -- its when you REALLY give something up and put someone else (another person, God, etc) first. The millionaire giving up a small percentage of his wealth was generous, but it wasn't very hard for him to do. The grocery bagger gave up EVERYTHING he had for someone else.

Consider at the same time the woman who gave the two coins -- the Pharisees put in a lot more in absolute terms, but she put in the greatest percentage. She gave ALL that she had and trusted in God whild the Pharisees gave out of their wealth. Which was more difficult to do? Which was the real sacrifice? This one's a no-brainer.

That's my random thought for the day anyway.

A Lesson From Our Dog

Our dog did something the other day that she ought not to have done. She went into the dark hallway, squatted down, and peed all over the floor. Dumb dog! I just took her outside, but NO, she had to pee on the floor. Again! She knew what she was doing. She knew she wasn't supposed to it. When she saw me as she came out of the hallway, she walked very slowly, slinking along. She knew she was going to get yelled at and then whapped in the head!

Sometimes dogs just aren't very smart.

Sometimes people just aren't very smart too.

Isn't that exactly what we do in struggling with sin sometimes? God shows us the way. His word gives us instruction about what pleases and displeases Him. He writes in our hearts His commandments. He gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us. Is that good enough for us? Of course not! We go ahead and do something we ought not do, knowing full well that its sinful, and knowing full well that we're going to feel it later.

So what happens? We slink back out of the dark hallway we snuck into for a while, hoping that God wouldn't see us -- back out into the light. Then we get a talking to by the spirit that says "I told you," followed quickly by a smack upside the head with the rolled up newspaper of guilt.

I think we're just slower learners than dogs.