30 Days To Greater FaithSample

When my daughter Catherine was about two, she had many words she was able to communicate, but whenever we had another toddler over to play at the house, there seemed to be only one word in her vocabulary: “Mine!” The guest could have ventured to the very bottom of the toy chest and picked out something Catherine had not played with for months, but as soon as she saw it in another child’s hands ... well, you know: “Mine!”

All children go through this phase, and it takes another year or two for them to sincerely want to share their toys. With the right direction, they begin to grasp the concept that they are not the center of the universe – that every other human being has not been placed here for their pleasure and convenience. Think about this: It would be ridiculous for a person to stand in front of her church, guarding the front doors and yelling, “Mine!” to any new person trying to enter; we would think something was seriously wrong with that person.

But if we are brutally honest, don’t we sometimes think this way? The church does not exist to satisfy each and every one of our selfish pursuits and ambitions; rather, it’s a place where we can serve the needs of others.