A Turkey for the Church

  The Butterball Turkey Company has a telephone hotline to answer consumer questions about preparing holiday turkeys. One year a woman called to inquire about cooking a turkey that had been in the bottom of her freezer for twenty-three years. That’s right the turkey could be in college now. The Butterball representative told her the turkey would probably be safe to eat if the freezer had been kept below zero for the entire twenty-three years. But the Butterball representative warned her that even if the turkey was safe to eat, the flavor would probably have deteriorated to such a degree that she would not recommend eating it. The caller replied, “That’s what I thought. We’ll give the turkey to our church.”

  So many times we are reluctant to truly give our best to the Lord. Yet, we have no trouble giving that which we want to get rid of in the first place, and then we wonder why we are not blessed because of it. God wants your firstfruits not your rotten tomatoes.