How Much Is Enough?

During a conversation about good stewardship of money and time, my daughter shared that sometimes doing the best thing was so hard for her to do. It wasn’t always a matter of right and wrong, black and white, but a matter of better and best. I began to reflect on the truth of her statement. When confronted with a decision, we can sometimes be given a choice of good, better, and best. We fool ourselves into believing that the good choice is not a bad one, so it must be enough. However, we have essentially placed a limit on our generosity or commitment with our false sense of good stewardship

Jesus calls us in different ways every day. Sometimes the cost to us is clear. Yet sometimes there is no clear metric. When called to love, how much love is enough? When someone needs our time, how many hours is enough? When a small gift will bring about a positive outcome, what could a larger gift accomplish?

Don’t be fooled by Jesus’ teaching of the mustard seed. He was speaking to those who were caught up in concerns of status, uncertainty of heart, and lack of true faith. Jesus taught with parables and then demonstrated true faith and generosity by his crucifixion. Perhaps the mustard seed of faith allows us to move mountains and trees so that we may see through to the horizon of the cross. In the cross, we find the real metric of love and generosity that is for all who follow Him.

— Tracy Earl Welliver