Stewardship Message – December 7, 2021

Surely almost everyone has watched a few episodes of The Andy Griffith television show. Every show has a life lesson in it. It has to be one of the most wholesome television shows in history. One of the many great episodes involved young Opie, Andy’s son, coming into some extra money. That money almost “burned a hole” in Opie’s pocket, as he just couldn’t wait to get that new fishing pole. His dad encouraged him to go get that special fishing pole because the newfound money was his to have.

But something happened after Opie got his new fishing rod. One day when Opie was in his dad’s office while his dad was out on patrol, a man came in to report some money that he had lost. After the man left, Opie had a terrible sinking feeling, and ultimately decided to return his fishing pole for a refund. In the end, Andy was very proud of his son. In fact he was so proud of his son, that he bought that fishing pole for Opie after all.

Do you think God looks at you and me the way Andy looked at his son, regarding what Opie did with that money? Does He watch what we do with our resources and how we choose to spend our money? I believe He does. And when we give back to Him what was His in the first place, He is so very proud of us, and in fact, He blesses us more than we can imagine.

We have a chance to do something very special this next Sunday when we make our 2022 pledges to our church. Can we do what Opie did… decide not to spend some of our money on ourselves, but instead do what God has told us is the right thing? I hope you will join Luann and me in giving more in 2022 so that the church budget doesn’t have to be cut.

If we give more in 2022 and beat this budget crunch, we may not get a new fishing rod, but God has a plan that includes more blessings coming our way that we could ever expect.

George Purnell
Stewardship Chair

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