THE FIRSTFRUITS OF OUR LEFTOVERS

          I’m very grateful that we have the church facilities we have:  a modest new building on 13 acres in a prime location.  Yet a lack of adequate classroom space and a fellowship hall (and a baptistery) hinders our ministry, perhaps more than we imagine.  Although my faith is strong, I don’t  foresee a remedy to these circumstances, at least not in the immediate future.  At this point in time our congregation is just not able to handle the indebtedness that would accompany such an expansion.  I keep wondering, “How will we ever get from point A to point B?”.  It would not be real-istic to think that we can achieve such goals instantaneously.  Of course if someone has an abundance of funds that they would like to share, we’d  be happy to be on the receiving end of such.  As I write this I am reminded of the words of Js.4:2b - - you do not have because you do not ask.       

          My wife and I are preparing to draft a will.  We have tried throughout our lives to give generously to the cause of Christ and with God’s rich blessings (2Cor.9:6-11) we have never failed to deposit our weekly offerings.  If we were out of town, we would “make up” our missed offering the next Sunday.  After all, it wouldn’t be right to make God pay for our vacation.  As we grow older we are anticipating “retirement” (of some sort, at least).  Only God knows what the future holds.  How old we might live to be or how the economics of our world might hold up - - these are factors one can seldom micro-manage.  What funds we have successfully squirreled away may not actually last too long.  However, we are determined to craft a will making the Lord’s church (our Cortland congregation) a chief beneficiary of whatever remains.  As a rule, we would never counsel any one to offer God their “leftovers”, but this might be an exception to that rule.  Ideally, our weekly gifts should come from our firstfruits.  Yet, to us  it seems to be to a good thing to legally inscribe a document whereby we give back to God THE FIRSTFRUITS OF OUR LEFTOVERS.  Come 2030, quite a few of us will have passed into eternity, but the firstfruits of our leftovers would significantly strengthen the future of our Cortland Church Family.   

                                                                  Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ