Despite the obvious issues, like a complete absence of talent, I have sometimes fancied the life of a professional sportsman. The big house, the fast cars, the expensive restaurants, the adoring fans, and for that you only have to been seen working in public  for a couple of hours or so each week. It’s so close to the life of a vicar as to be uncanny.

The salary that the biggest stars of sport receive have their attractions too. From Premiership footballers, to tennis wonderkids, to the star quarterbacks in the NFL, millions of pounds are the going rate.

All this dwarfs into insignificance when compared to the career of one Gaius Appuleius Diocles. Diocles was a second century charioteer who took part in more than 4000 races over twenty four years. He was hugely popular, and extraordinarily successful. His victories earned him an amount that would be the equivalent of some $15 billion today.

The pursuit of glory and wealth is a common story. So often the richest and most powerful individuals in our society are feted, celebrated and admired.

But in God’s economy things look a little different. This is where it’s very much more about what you do with what you have.

The bible tells us that Jesus was in the temple when he saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. Jesus spoke to his followers ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’

Generosity is not tied to an absolute figure or the preserve of the rich and famous.

There is  a prayer of King David from the bible that we sometimes use when monetary gifts are collected together in a church service. It reads ‘all things come from You, and of Your own do we give You’. Everything we have, great or small, belongs to God in the first place. We are only temporary custodians. Giving freely and unselfishly can only begin to honour God’s amazing generosity to us. But it’s a good place to start.

(March 2017)