Three Dollars' Worth of God

Not so recently, a visitor to our church read us a little Poem about “Three Dollars Worth Of God.” More recently I came across that poem again and thought how appropriate it was to the series I am currently preaching on from the Book of Romans in the New Testament of our Bibles.

I felt that this poem summed up the attitude of the Jews of that time. Although, they would never have acknowledged that their problem was that they only had about “Three Dollars Worth Of God.” (Although in their case, Paul would have argued that they only had about “Three Sheckles Worth Of God”.)

But what about us today? Many today claim to have God, particularly celebrities who have recently gotten into trouble, but also many churchgoers too! But I can’t help wondering, how much of God do we really have? The whole package? Or only Three Dollars Worth? Here is the Poem again so you can decide for yourself.

“I’d like to buy three dollar’s worth of God. Please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of a womb, not a new birth. I want about a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I’d like to buy about three dollars’ worth of God please.”

The thing here is not to ask how much God do other people have but rather ‘How much of God do you really have?

Better yet, “How much of your attention and love does God have?” Only you and Him can answer that honestly! Will you? Walter