Terry worked long hours.  True, he earned a good living, but he was generous too.  He tithed to the church, and gave to charities and good causes.   Once a friend of the family’s car failed it’s MOT and she couldn’t afford a new one, so Terry and his wife bought her one – Terry enjoyed hunting out a good model and fixing the minor faults that it had.

He was in a friendly church and a small group from the church met weekly too.  He would enjoy the evening meetings, although he couldn’t always get to them with work commitments.  One particularly busy week Terry’s small group leader told them that an elderly neighbour of his was having trouble keeping the garden up and suggested that the group all spend an evening or two clearing it up.  Looking at his calendar, Terry realised that this would be the only evening he would be in that week and suggested that they pay for a gardening firm to do the job.  “That’s not what I’m asking for” said the leader, “I was hoping it would be an act of love”.

The leader felt that Terry was offering the wrong stuff, and Terry felt that God didn’t want what he had to give.

Jesus sighed.  “Why don’t they listen to me?”  “Give whatever you can according to what you have.” (2 Corinthians 8:11)