A SACRIFICE OF PRAISE

What do you offer God?

Whatever we offer Him, we know that it is a meager offering compared to what He has offered us—the atoning death of His Son upon the cross, eternal life with Him, abundant life in the here and now, mercy and grace for each day….any one of those things is more than I can give back to the God of the Universe.

And yet, He calls me to give.

I was thinking today about the “cost” of my giving to Him.

In Luke 14, Jesus tells us if anyone is going to build a tower, they must first count the cost before building to make sure they have enough to complete it. In the same way, we must examine our hearts and count the cost when we begin to build a life with Christ.

It is not a half hearted proposition.

I was listening to Casting Crowns today. Here are the lyrics that led me to this road of self examination:

“Somewhere In The Middle”
“Somewhere between the hot and the cold
Somewhere between the new and the old
Somewhere between who I am and who I used to be
Somewhere in the middle, You’ll find me
Somewhere between the wrong and the right
Somewhere between the darkness and the light
Somewhere between who I was and who You’re making me
Somewhere in the middle, You’ll find me
Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control
Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense
Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle
With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is
But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle
Are we caught in the middle
Somewhere between my heart and my hands
Somewhere between my faith and my plans
Somewhere between the safety of the boat and the crashing waves
Somewhere between a whisper and a roar
Somewhere between the altar and the door
Somewhere between contented peace and always wanting more
Somewhere in the middle You’ll find me
Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control
Lord, I feel You in this place and I know You’re by my side
Loving me even on these nights when I’m caught in the middle”

I think Casting Crowns sing some of the most thought provoking lyrics but that is another post:0).

I realized today that God has blessed me with a very comfortable existence—through no great plan on my part, but merely through His unmerited blessing and infinite grace—and so even though I give to Him, very little of it is sacrificial.

I remember coming home from a mission trip to Honduras feeling so humbled that somehow I had been blessed to be born in America with a wonderful home and family, food in the pantry, healthy and happy and wealthier than most of the world. Why? Only God’s mercy and grace. But I also envied those Honduran Christians who spent hours each week in worship and prayer, desperate for God because He is all they had!

I realized I was poor in comparison while they were rich in the things of faith.

So today, as I considered being “somewhere in the middle” it hit me that I am a spiritual wimp! What I offer God comes out of “my” excess—the overwhelming blessings that He has given and whatever meager offering I give, it doesn’t “hurt”-it isn’t a sacrifice. I don’t go hungry because I give. I don’t go without to give to God.

As I opened my Bible considering all of this, I came upon the story about the widow’s mite. How she gave all that she had and was honored for it.

And then it hit me-the one thing I lack is time. And I admit, the one thing that often gets lost in the shuffle of doing all the things I do, is time with Him and personal Bible study and quiet time. Often, the one time that I could plan on would be to give up an hour of sleep to spend time with Jesus, the Lover of my soul. And yet I have said, “Well with my job, I must be rested.” Or “I am just not a morning person” Or…..excuse after excuse after excuse.

Could I give Him my time instead of the left overs? To me, at this point in my life, my time is more valuable and precious than finances. Could it be that the sacrifice He calls me to make is to let Him order my time and my steps instead of putting Him on my “to do” list and like the list of 1)Pay bills, 2) Pick up cleaning 3) Make dentist appointment—where the undone just gets shifted to the next day if I get behind, I offered Him the first fruits of my time as a sacrifice of praise?

The Kingdom of God is an upside down place and this is no different. How like God to ask the widow who had no money, to give what she had, knowing He would care for her. How like God to not ask me for my finances so much as my time because He knows that is what is most precious to me. And like the widow, God knows that if I give Him the gift of my time, a sacrifice of laying down something precious to me, He will take care of the time for me.

When King David went to buy the threshing floor to build an altar to the Lord in 2 Samuel 24:18-24, Araunah wanted to give the threshing floor to the King, but David insisted on buying it, saying, “No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” The chapter ends with these words, “He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered prayer on behalf of the land and the plague on Israel ended.”

God takes what we offer seriously.

“Forgive me, Lord, for not getting it. For giving you gifts that cost me nothing. Lord, let me give you my all when it comes to the ordering of my time. I know it all belongs to You anyway, Lord, so let me steward it well and offer you the first fruits of all that You have given me. Amen.”

What is He asking you to give? As thoughts turn toward the death and resurrection where He gave it all, may you offer Him a sacrifice of praise for all that He has done.

Blessings,

Kim