What's it to you?

I started sponsoring a child back in 2009 through World Vision and receive emails from them periodically.  The other day I received one about giving and curiosity struck this cat so I decided to do some digging around.

I found this page World Vision Online Donations and started going down the list of how much each item costs in US dollars.

Here are a few examples: (excerpts taken from the Donation website listed above)

• To give a goat: $75
• Goats nourish hungry children and families with healthy milk, cheese, and yogurt. Goats also give a much-needed income boost by providing offspring and extra dairy products for sale at the market.
  A healthy dairy goat can give up to 16 cups of milk a day. Goat milk is easier to digest than cow’s milk and is an excellent source of calcium, protein, and other essential nutrients that growing children need. Goats are practical animals — flourishing in harsh climates while producing valuable manure to fertilize crops and vegetable gardens. 
• Education for one child: $32
• Your gift can help pay school fees or provide essentials like school uniforms, textbooks, backpacks, and school supplies — helping ensure that one child in poverty can receive what he or she needs to get an education. 
• Hope for Sexually Exploited Women: $35
• Give hope for sexually exploited girls. Your gift will offer girls assistance like medical care, nutritious food, non formal education, vocational training, compassionate counseling, and, where possible, reintegration into a loving family environment.
• 2 Soccer Balls: $16
• Your gift of a soccer ball can replace a makeshift banana leaf ball or rounded wad of trash for an energetic boy or girl. And with a generous match from Baden™ Sports, your gift gives two new soccer balls instead of just one!

And the list goes on and on... As I started going through the list of things and examining the monetary value associated with each one I started thinking... what are similar priced items that we buy without so much of a hesitation or a thought?

I'm pretty sure I don't really need to list specific things with a price tag along side to get the point across.  They can range from a new iPad to a new phone... a nice steak dinner or going to watch a play... it can be going to a concert or playing at D&B...

My point is not to make people feel guilty for going to these things or buying items... but my hope is to start a thought process of how sometimes we hesitate or have to carefully think through a financial decision of giving to the Kingdom opposed to thoughtlessly dropping the same amount on something we've been eyeing for a few months or something we've always wanted to go to...

Funny right?  How investing into the Kingdom is something that should be thought so carefully and we need to be "financially responsible" because we can't just give everything away... whereas movies, gifts, presents to ourselves, entertainment takes not nearly as much wise consideration as the former...

Why is that?

Maybe because innately we are just that selfish.  The price of being entertained or doing anything for ourselves greatly outweighs the price of investing into something that doesn't directly relate to us or at least doesn't bring immediate reward...

But is that really the truth of the matter?  I don't think it is...

Matthew 6:19-20 says
¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.


Let's remember that the monetary value of the items in the first list come with a price tag that goes much higher than we can comprehend and the monetary value of the items in the list that comes after is a high price to pay just for ourselves...