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Today on my way home from work, I stopped by a restaurant and picked up supper for my family. We discussed this last night, and the general consensus was that we would be having chicken fingers…but from where? There are four chicken-serving restaurants on my way home from work. Restaurant One is sort of out of the way, and they use too much pepper for our tastes. Restaurant Two has good chicken fingers, seasoned perfectly, but they have a habit of taking forever. Restaurant Three has good chicken fingers and has great dipping sauce. Restaurant Four has chicken fingers pretty much like the third restaurant, only I don’t like the sauce as much. So, decisions, decisions: Restaurant Three or Restaurant Four?

Restaurant Four is a no-brainer for me, and I’ll tell you why. Their sauce may not be as good as Restaurant Three, but you get more actual chicken for your money. I have ordered buckets of chicken at both restaurants. Restaurant Three takes the whole “twenty pieces” concept literally. Open your bucket and you will find exactly twenty pieces. On the other hand, Restaurant Four – and I have witnessed this with my own two eyes – takes the basket and dumps everything into the bucket, but there will be a little chicken left over. Not to be outdone, the person will then pack the chicken down and add the rest of the basket. “Twenty” isn’t a hard and fast rule; it’s a ballpark figure. Tonight, for example, Restaurant Four actually gave us no fewer than thirty-two chicken fingers!

When Luke recorded the Sermon on the Mount, he included a thought that is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible: “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38, NKJV). Naturally, when we give more to the Lord as a part of our worship, we will get more in return (Proverbs 3:9-10). Also, when we give our time and attention to others, we will receive not only their time and attention in return, but also their respect. Third, when we give our time and attention to God, we will be blessed beyond measure and we can accomplish things we never dared dream (Philippians 4:13).