How Much Do We Give...?

Yesterday morning our pastor told a story in church that I thought worth repeating.  I'm changing it just a little to make it more relevant to the world today but the meaning is still there.


There once was a wealthy man who decided he wanted to do something nice for his community.  He bought a piece of property and decided to build a house on it.  The project would not only provide jobs for people in the community but would also help local building supply stores.  He searched the community for the right contractor and finally found the perfect one.  

The contractor was having financial difficulties.  He was behind on his rent payments and bills, his family was struggling and his business was floundering.  The wealthy man offered the contractor the job of building the new house as a chance to help get him back on his feet.  The contractor readily accepted.

The contractor gave the wealthy man his bid on the job then hired cheap, inexperienced labor and bought sub-quality materials to save as much money as possible which he could then pocket for himself.  He began building the house with the sub-quality materials using the inexperienced men and it began to take shape.  The flaws in the workmanship and materials were covered with cosmetic fixes so only those building the home knew it was not top quality construction.
  
When the house was finally finished the contractor called the owner and invited him to come over and inspect the house.  When the owner walked through the home he saw what appeared to be a very well constructed home.  It was beautiful.  Little did he know what the real story was.

When the owner finished his walk through he took the keys to the house and held them out to the contractor.  "Thank you for building such a fine house.  It is my gift to you."

There are some who would say the contractor made out either way.  Certainly he could sell the home to someone else and walk away with a profit.  Yet he knew the truth - that the man who hired him did so in good faith with good intentions and the contractor did sub-standard work to take advantage of the man, only to be given a gift - the product of his own shoddy workmanship.

Do we give everything to God that He expects of us or do we give Him sub-standard performance and sub-standard loyalty while taking full advantage of everything He gives to us on a daily basis?  Something to think about...