$100,000

What would you do with $100,000?

I have a Kindergarten project hanging on my bulletin board at work that my daughter completed a couple of years ago.  It is a fake $100 bill stapled to a primary ledger page with the sentence prompt, “If I had $100…”  She was to complete the sentence and draw a picture.  She wrote,

  “I would buy my mom a car.” 

How sweet!  She wouldn’t spend it on gum or lip gloss or Beanie Boos (the latest craze in stuffed animals) or a rainbow loom (the latest crazy craze).  She would spend it on her mom. 

Or would she? 

Don’t get me wrong here…I am not questioning her desire to be kind. She’s a sweet girl and she shares…sometimes. But I also don’t underestimate her desire to be selfish.  I think her perspective is limited, and so her response was limited.  You see, when she was asked what she would do with $100, that was the most money she could imagine.  They were celebrating 100 Days of School and they were discussing what a big number that was and when you’re five and you’ve just figured out how to count to 100, it does seem like the biggest thing ever.  And so a pipe dream like actually having $100 deserves a crazy vision…like a buying a car.  Obviously she has no concept of what a car costs or how little help $100 would be in that purchase.  She has a limited perspective.  I think if she had been asked what she would do with $10, she would say, “I would buy gum and a beanaboo.”  Actually, I am 110% confident that’s what she would do, because it’s what she did with her $10 last weekend.  She can imagine how to spend $10.  She can’t imagine how to spend $100.

What’s my point? 

Let me ask you a question.  What can you imagine?

Have you ever listened to the “world peace” speeches given by the contestants in the Miss America pageants?  I don’t mean to poke fun, but I kind of lump these answers in the category of my daughter’s answer.  “What will you do with all of your power, Miss America?” 

  “I’ll save the world!”  

She can’t really imagine what she would do with “all that power” because she doesn’t, in reality, have all that much power.    I’m not hating on Miss America (I’m not hating on my sweet little girl either).  Because my point is that we have a limited perspective as well.

So, I’ll ask again, what can you imagine? 

"Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us;"

In college I was a part of a Bible study by Henry Blackaby called Experiencing God. It was a study I would return to several times early in ministry because of the profound questions it asked of me. One of the best was, "Are you attempting something so great for God that if He doesn't show up, you will fall flat on your face?" At the time I was attending a small Southern Baptist liberal arts college whose motto was "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." I was inspired. What could I attempt for God?

Not to be unwise. Not to get ahead of God and leave His path. Not to test his mercy or grace or goodness or faithfulness. Not to make a name for myself. But to challenge my own tiny world. How big is my God?  Only as big as the box I put Him in…

One hundred thousand dollars isn’t really a lot of money.  Most of the people I rub elbows with deal with this kind of figure on a regular basis.  On the other hand, I don’t have to drive very far at all to find a friend who would consider this a small fortune. 

  It’s really all about your perspective.

Sometimes I fantasize about what I would do with major money. I’m talking like 10 million or some huge number, a life changing number.  I don’t think I’m alone.  We currently live vicariously through many “reality tv” shows that pose the same the life altering situation.  I personally have imagined who I would give money to, how much I spend on myself, how much I would save. I imagine how much fun it would be to write a check to my alma maters (all three of them!) for thousands of dollars.  I imagine flying to Africa to deliver the money necessary to plant churches and clinics.  I imagine giving my brother the money he needs to finish school.  I imagine how great it would feel to see the smiles on those people’s faces.  It’s something like the stick figure my daughter drew on her page of me smiling beside my new red car.  Really, I’m clueless.  And so I go back to counting out quarters from the bottom of my purse.

It’s easy to fantasize about something that will never happen.  That’s why we call it a fantasy.  But what would you really do with $100,000?  That’s not a stretch.  It’s an inheritance.  It’s a good business year.  It’s a house sale.  I think the answer to that question comes with what is revealed about us when we describe what we would do with $100.  Would I share?  Would I give it away?  Would I save it?  Would I spend it on shoes?

I think sometimes we are afraid to share it, to give it away, to spend it on someone else because we lose control of it.  They may use it wrong, not appreciate the gift, waste it, or lose it.  “Never give money to beggars” is rule #1 when visiting another city.  Why not?  Why is it my responsibility to make sure that the recipient of the gift appropriately uses the gift I’ve given?  And if that is my responsibility, is it appropriately named a gift?  Wouldn’t that be a loan or a grant?  And who taught us that this was our responsibility?  Over and over Jesus told stories about people who wasted money by socking it away, people who criticized the owner for wasting money by giving it to someone else (because money is always wasted if it’s not mine), about people who misused, abused, and ultimately crucified the gifts that Father gave us.  Was God irresponsible in his giving of Christ to us?  I don’t think God ever intended to express “trust” in our abilities to make good choices when he gave us His Son.  On the contrary, he gave us what we didn’t deserve but so desperately needed because we had so screwed up all the other gifts he had given.  God is not irresponsible.  But his generosity is irrepressible. 

How much does it cost to be a follower of this lavish God?  Such a wise, pragmatic question!  We would applaud a young person who “weighed the cost” of an important life decision.  Jesus’ response was simple: everything.  (and what an irresponsible decision that would be!!)  We would also likely applaud the young person who, upon hearing such a startling and reckless response, decided to complete his current plans, see to his current responsibilities, and tie up loose ends.  Jesus didn’t applaud.

Because it’s one thing to weigh the cost of a new automobile.  It’s quite another to weigh the cost of life in Christ.  The one demonstrates maturity.  The other, faith…or a lack thereof.  I’ve heard all my life that we are to “consider the cost” and well we should. But when God calls and our response is, “that costs too much” we are….........................................................lost.

And if we are to be found, we need a new perspective.

What if we jumped?  Jumped off the high dive and into the deep end.  Off the bow and into the ocean!  Off of our safe platforms of rules and regs and traditions and temptations and into the secure but unsafe arms of Jesus!!  Oh where or where might he take us!!!  Some people leap.  I don’t know exactly how they are wired, but there is something in them that gives them the courage to jump.  I think the rest of us have to practice.

I was friends with a girl in college who decided she wanted to learn to sky dive.  She talked about the lessons in the gymnasium where she jumped off of a tiny platform onto a padded mat only a couple of feet below her so she could “learn to fall.” But on the day of the dive, there was only one shot to trust her parachute, and if that parachute didn’t work, her “falling” lessons were going to seem a little silly.  For me, I think God has had to give me lots of “learning to fall” lessons so I can begin to trust the parachute. 

So today’s “falling” lesson: what would you do with $100,000?  What if we prayed, “God I don’t know what to do with this money.  But You know.  You know exactly who needs it.  And I don’t know why you’ve given it to me.  But I’m thankful for the opportunity to be a conduit of your grace!  Show me who needs it.  Give me perspective and vision.  And when it’s time to jump, give me courage. Because I don’t just trust the parachute…I trust the Maker.”