Stewardship or sacrifice...?

This  morning,  in John's Gospel chapter twelve, I read the account of where Mary of Bethany extravagantly anoints Jesus' feet with a half litre flask of very expensive perfumed oil. We see that Judas Iscariot was offended that she would "waste" something so expensive. (Although he justifies his negativity by saying that the money could have been given to the poor, we read that he in fact wanted to steal some of it for himself.)

The message of the story is unmistakable: No expense is too much, no sacrifice is too great for Jesus, who Himself gave up everything for us. But as I read the story this morning, I realised that, in my own life, I sometimes find myself in a dilemma between stewardship and sacrifice.

I love to be generous and so my dilemma doesn't arise when it comes to giving money or gifts to others. Where I do find myself hesitating is when it comes to apparently spending money on myself, and especially when it comes to those big budget expenses of plane tickets. I often find myself having to buy a plane ticket and make a trip for ministry reasons; some years I might have only two or three trips, while other years I might need to make four or five. This year, for example, I've already bought three plane tickets for short trips within Europe, and I still need to make plans for two other trips - one to the Middle East and one to Asia.

Whenever it's time to buy a plane ticket, I find myself switching into stewardship mode: I spend hours searching on the internet to find the very best deal possible, and I'll willingly put up with inconvenient hours or airport layovers if it means I can get a ticket at a good price and be a better steward of the money that God has provided for me. I feel disappointed if the dates of a trip mean that a plane ticket costs more than I would have wanted to spend.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to be a good steward of resources, but today I was thinking that a different perspective on plane tickets would be to see them as an opportunity to switch into sacrifice mode. After all, those ministry trips are not really for myself: they're steps of obedience to God's calling, and the money involved can be seen as my sacrificial gift to the Lord.

I'll always continue to look for "the best deal," but there's greater joy in the cost if I think of it as perfume poured on the feet of Jesus.

Stewardship and sacrifice.... Where do you face challenges in one or both of these areas? Do you spend impulsively, or get into debt, and fail to be a faithful steward of God's resources in your life? Do you struggle to be generous in giving to others, to the church, or to "good causes" ? Or, like me, do you find it challenging sometimes to discern the right balance between sacrifice and stewardship? 

Bring your questions to God today, and seek His direction for how you use the money, possessions, time and gifts that He has entrusted to you.