For thirteen years Grace Avenue
has used the motto: "Not a location, but a Way of Life." In other words
Christian faith is a perspective. It is a state of mind. It is a matter of the
heart.
This story I think illustrates
our motto well:
Two wealthy Christians, a
lawyer and a merchant, joined a party that was traveling around the world. In
Korea one day, they saw, in a field by the side of the road, a boy pulling a
rude plow, while an old man held the plow handles and directed it. The lawyer
was amused, and took a snapshot of the scene.
"That's a curious picture! I suppose they are very poor," he said to the missionary, who was an interpreter and guide to the party.
"Yes," was the reply. "That is the family of Chi Noui. When the church was being built they were eager to give something to it, but they had no money; so they sold their only ox and gave their money to the church. This spring they are pulling the plow themselves."
The lawyer and the businessman by his side were silent for some moments. Then the businessman said, "That must have been a real sacrifice."
"They did not call it that," said the missionary. "They thought it was fortunate that they had an ox to sell."
"That's a curious picture! I suppose they are very poor," he said to the missionary, who was an interpreter and guide to the party.
"Yes," was the reply. "That is the family of Chi Noui. When the church was being built they were eager to give something to it, but they had no money; so they sold their only ox and gave their money to the church. This spring they are pulling the plow themselves."
The lawyer and the businessman by his side were silent for some moments. Then the businessman said, "That must have been a real sacrifice."
"They did not call it that," said the missionary. "They thought it was fortunate that they had an ox to sell."
Is the giving of your time and
resources to God really a sacrifice or a blessing?
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