Do You Give Your Best?

You are offering improper sacrifices on my altar, yet you ask, ‘How have we offended ?’ By treating the table of the Lord as if it is of no importance.  Malachi 1:7

 Have your kids, or your mail carrier, ever needed something for a canned food drive and so you comb through your pantry trying to spot things you don’t need? A can of artichoke hearts. A box of sketchy looking pasta. Things you can’t remember why you bought and have no idea how you would use? Guess what, the people getting food from the pantry probably will have little idea of how to use it either! You’re trying to pat yourself on the back for having donated, but what have you given? Did you give your best? Did you think of those in need and come up with things that would bless and benefit them? I’m ashamed to admit this is a true story of mine. Turns out I’m not alone though, which is even sadder…

 God had brought the Israelites back from Exile to their homes. He had reminded them of all He had done for them, and called them to true worship and service. They had responded enthusiastically initially, but as time stretched on and the promised Messiah hadn’t appeared, as they were still under the rule of foreign nations and life wasn’t easy, they started to be half-hearted in their worship. They didn’t stop sacrificing, but what they gave really wasn’t their best. As they looked over their flock and saw a lamb that was blind or lame they thought, “I don’t really need that one, I’ll give it to God.” Now they had been taught to look over the first-born of their sheep and pick the best, finest one to give to God. That is what God deserves after all He’s done for us, our best. But it’s really hard to give up our best. We see this over and over in Biblical history.

 In Genesis we encounter the first example of sibling issues as Cain and Abel’s sacrifices are met with different results. Abel gave the best of his first-born flock, but Cain gave “some” of his vegetables. God was pleased with Abel’s sacrifice, but not with Cain’s, not because vegetables are less worthy than animals, if vegetables were the best he had to offer I’m sure God would have been pleased, but because Cain didn’t give his best. Cain gave up what he felt he had to spare. His heart wasn’t drawn to seek out the best thing He could give to God, he just felt like he should offer up something. Who knows, maybe his parents had said something to him. Maybe he saw what his brother was doing and started playing catchup. Only God knows Cain’s heart, but knowing it He wasn’t pleased. God used it as a teachable moment though, pointing Cain to what he should have done. Cain didn’t take this well and took out his frustration on his brother as you might remember. You can read the whole story in Genesis 4.

 Fast-forwarding past the book of Malachi, in the New Testament we read the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Everyone in the church was giving offerings and their offerings were celebrated. This couple wanted in on the action, so they sold a piece of land they owned. They plotted together and decided to only give part of the proceeds, but tell everyone they had given it all, like they had heard other people doing. These two were really bought into their plan because each of them, when questioned independently about it, stuck to their story, to their demise. Was God mad that they were only giving part of the proceeds? I don’t think so. The issue was that they were trying to get credit for doing one thing, when they had done a lesser thing. Their heart wasn’t in giving an appropriate offering to the Lord, they were just wanting people to think they had. That’s part of why we’re taught in Matthew 6:3, “But when you do your giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Giving isn’t supposed to be a big show where we tell everyone what we’ve done. When it’s heart is about God, about giving our best to Him, no one else really needs to know that we’ve done it. Consider the story of the poor widow at the temple…

 In Mark 12:41–44 we hear about offerings being given at the temple. They had large, metal receptacles for collecting the gifts of the people at the temple and the rich people were throwing in large handfuls of coins, making quite a loud ruckus you might imagine. I wonder if they even chose the types of money to deposit for its ability to make noise and draw attention to themselves. Along came a poor widow, and by poor I mean really, really poor. All she had in the world were two small coins, together worth only a penny. You can’t buy anything for a penny! I bet if she hurled them into the metal containers with all her might, it still wouldn’t make a sound anyone would notice. But Jesus noticed her as she quietly deposited all she had to live on, and He said of her, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. For they all gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in what she had to live on, everything she had.” This poor widow gave her best and God saw it and was pleased. You know He took care of her and more than made up for what she could have attained with those small coins.

 None of this is supposed to be a guilt trip to give more or do better. What I’m encouraging all of us to do, myself included, is look to what we are offering to the Lord, whether it be our time, talents, or treasure, and see if we are giving our best. When I go to serve at the Mission with my husband every once in a while, I don’t do so out of the dregs of my energy that are left in the evening. I plan ahead and rest in the morning and take a nap in the afternoon so that I have everything I can have available to give when I go. Yes, it’s not much, but its my best and that’s what counts. When I write for my blog, I don’t prattle something off real quick. I research it, I annotate it, I point you to sources. I read what others have to say. I pray about the content. I ask God what He wants me to write. Oftentimes this means I have time and energy for little else in my day, but I give my best talents to what God has called me to. When it comes to money, I’m not going to tell you what I give, except to say that God has challenged me to always have my heart open to opportunities He has for me to share what He has entrusted to me.

Here's the Thing: It’s not about what we give, but the heart that we give it with.