When I was in elementary school, we had this really incredible field trip to an educational facility called Exchange City. Exchange City is this brilliant place where school-age children occupy a "city" and take on the challenges of adult life (working, personal economics, ethics, work-life balance, etc). When I was (I think) in Fifth Grade, I had the privilege of attending a day there, and learned a great deal about how the world works.
Before any child goes to Exchange City, they generally go through a curriculum that teaches them various concepts they will need to function effectively during their day there. I remember learning about how to balance a checkbook, how to budget and other personal finance concepts. One of the learning modules I remember clearly dealt with the concept of "The Opportunity Cost". I could go into a sprawling explanation of Opportunity Cost (wikipedia has a great article on it HERE), but a quick example should suffice.
(By the way, if you are ever faced with this exact scenario, I hope I don't need to tell you that the wiser choice is the date night. Just sayin'.)
Well, opportunity cost does not just relate to money. You can count opportunity costs in terms of time spent (for example, a choice between using an hour to go workout at the gym or using that hour to watch an episode of Fringe). There are innumerable ways to figure opportunity costs.
What about your giving? Sure, you can figure out what you have to give up in order to tithe or give over and above the tithe, but that's not really what I'm talking about. The point I'm trying to relate in this post is this: there is an opportunity cost when you decide not to give to God.
Let me give you a very concrete example. Our church is about to put on Vacation Bible School, and invariably, among the 400 - 500 children who attend each year, there are a dozen or so who come to accept Christ during that week. Vacation Bible School is offered each year because of the giving of our church membership. But what would happen if the giving fell off, and we were no longer able to offer Vacation Bible School? Would the eternal destiny of the dozen or so children who would have accepted salvation be irreversibly changed? Not necessarily. There may be other opportunities for them to come to know Christ as their personal savior. But how can you be sure? How can you be certain that one of those children might have had their only opportunity during Vacation Bible School?
Are you willing to live with that opportunity cost?This week, as you think about giving to God, be aware that there is a cost for disobedience, and it may have nothing to do with you personally. But, it may be someone else's eternal destiny. Whatever it is you are thinking about diverting that money towards (instead of the tithe or offering), stack that up against the opportunity cost of a soul saved.
Does that change your perspective at all?
Learning to Give in a Getting World, by Marc Farnell and Jesse Greever, is available as both a paperback and eBook at the following locations:
CreateSpace (paperback, $9.99)
Amazon.com (paperback, $9.99; eBook, $2.99)
Directly from eLectio Publishing (eBook $2.99 in ALL formats for one price)
Pastors and church administrators can contact me directly at jesse@accidental-author.com to find out about discounts available for churches that wish to use this for teaching and small group curriculum.
You can also become a fan of the book at www.facebook.com/LearningToGive.
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JesseSGreever
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