No Cash Allowed
No Cash Allowed
You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”
2 Corinthians 9:7
It was a weekday, and every line at Costco’s card-only gas station was several cars long. My husband, Tim, was in between work appointments, pumping gas into his Jeep Grand Cherokee, when he overheard a man in the lane next to him pleading with the gas station attendant to let him pay for his gas with cash, as he had forgotten a card. The attendant declined, reiterating the card-only policy.
Making a quick decision, Tim walked over and interrupted their disagreement by sticking his debit card into the card slot at the man’s gas pump. “Here you go,” he told the man.
“Are you serious?” the man asked him, mouth open with astonishment. “I can pay you cash!”
Tim told him no thanks, that it was okay, then returned to his car and drove away from the gas station.
No matter whether we’re giving of our time, talent, or treasure, each act of kindness we do is an intentional decision. Some of those decisions are made on the spur of the moment, and others are made over time, requiring us to use planning and intention. Yet however we choose to give and whomever we choose to bless, one of the only requirements God has for us is that we decide in our own hearts how much to give. He would much rather have us give cheerfully and sincerely than in response to someone else’s urging, or because we feel guilty or think we “have” to give to a certain individual or organization.
In that moment at the gas station, Tim’s habit of kindness led him to a spur-of-the-moment decision to bless someone else and to meet a need he didn’t plan for and didn’t see coming. He didn’t feel pressured to give in that moment, but he gave cheerfully and of his own will.
Have you ever felt pressured to give? If so, how did that experience contrast with a time when you gave cheerfully?
— Today’s Act of Kindness —
Watch for a spur-of-the-moment opportunity to provide for someone else.
From the book
