A little boy received two quarters from his mother--one for himself and one to place in the offering plate at church. As they were walking down the sidewalk to church, he accidentally dropped one, and it rolled into a nearby drain. He peered down through the grates of the drain at the shiny coin on the bottom. When he realized he couldn't retrieve it, he said, "Well, God--there goes Your quarter."

How many of us do the same thing, not only with our money, but with our time and other resources, too? When we come up short on either one of these, we usually short-change God. Each situation begs the question, "What's left for God?" Would we treat a dignitary the way we treat God in these instances? How much greater is God!

When Jesus was asked about the spiritual lawfulness of paying taxes to a secular government (in that case, Rome), His reply was "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God." (Matthew 22:15-22; paraphrased). God is not nearly as interested in our money, however, as He is in us personally. God wants us--our time, our attention, and our unswerving devotion! In fact, if He has our devotion, He will have our all.

After we spend a week on the job and a weekend relaxing in whatever way we choose, do we still reserve some time for God--say, an hour or two for congregational worship? During the week, do we set aside a few minutes each day to pray and read a passage of Scripture and think about how it applies to us? If we don't make time for God and give a generous portion of our money and other resources to Him, what's left for God? Good question! How do you answer it?