My wife says I'm cheap. I don't like that word. I'm frugal, conservative, economical. I'm not cheap.
Several years ago I took the family on an all-inclusive trip to Mackinac Island, the resort in Lake Huron between the mainland of Michigan and its Upper Peninsula. All-inclusive means you pay one price and it includes everything: hotel, entertainment and meals (including tips). That's my kind of trip.
But after eating at one of the restaurants I was made aware that, while the meal and tip were included, I was still expected to leave a gratuity. WHAT?! I thought a tip was a gratuity. After some grumbling, I gave in. On the way home I looked at my wife and said, "Well, it's only money." She stopped dead in her tracks, grabbed me and said, "Who are you and what did you do with my husband?"
We laughed, but I wondered, "Is that how I am perceived?" I didn't want to be thought of as cheap, so I began asking God to help me be more generous in my giving. Funny how God answers our prayers. He will usually put examples in our lives to remind us of our prayerful desires.
Soon after that trip, I ate at a Cracker Barrel with a couple of guys from church. Perhaps you've noticed that the servers at Cracker Barrel wear brown aprons with gold stars on them. Those stars are earned by "experience and excellence." The young lady serving us that night had no stars on her apron. None. Nada. Zero.
We soon found out why. She messed up the order, not once, not twice, but three times. We finally just ate what she brought us because we were starving.
As I went up to the register to pay the bill, I thought about our "no star" service. I felt that, as a Christian, I needed to leave a tip no matter how bad the service was. I mean, she saw us pray, she heard our conversations as we ate, and I have always said: You are the only Bible that some people ever read. So I left a tip.
Afterward, as we were walking to the car, our server came bursting out of the door with tears in her eyes, exclaiming, "Thank you! Thank you!" I saw her come running toward me, so I opened up my arms to receive her grateful embrace ... but she ran right past me and hugged the guy next to me. I thought to myself, "What just happened? I'm the one who left the tip!"
But come to find out, while I had left a tip, the guy next to me had left a gratuity. A $100 bill.
He told her, "Thank you for serving us. You did a fine job," and she walked back into Cracker Barrel in disbelief.
That's what generous giving is all about. It's not the status quo; it's going above and beyond.
You know, we are more like our heavenly father when we love people and are generous to others. God showed us what generous giving is all about. He gave his only-begotten son so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
All of us should be stunned when we come to realize what God did for us when we had "no stars." It was at that time that he generously gave to all of us. This kind of love and generosity ought to bring a "thank you" to our lips every day we live and motivate us to be Five-Star Christians.
I'm still working on my frugality (OK, my cheapness), but thank you, Lord, for the wonderful examples you place in my life.
Gary Jared has been pastor at Stuart Heights Baptist Church for 25 years. He and his wife, Nancy, have four daughters, two sons-in-law and one grandson.