Honorable Offering
God is generous in how He gives to us. God wants us to give our best back. When we give back an offering, it is always in response to what we were given by God.
“If any of you...presents a gift for a burnt offering to the Lord, either to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf. When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable. Do not offer to the Lord the blind, the injured or the maimed...Keep my commands and follow them. I am the Lord. Do not profane my holy name, for I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord, who made you holy and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 22:1-2, 6, 9, 18, 20-22, 31-33
Why does an offering matter? An offering demonstrates trust and love. God very clearly lays out that routinely giving offerings are part of healthy relationship. There is a mutuality of generosity between God and His people. Blessings are meant to flow like a river to and through us to God and others.
Unfortunately, there can be a tendency within the human heart to twist the truth and rather than see the offerings as what they are, an opportunity to express love, we can see them as an obligation. God wants to help keep our hearts free and gives us wisdom on how to make sure our offerings accomplish the intended purpose of drawing us closer to our God and community. What advice is given? Give your best, first. This demonstrates the most trust and love that you can have. One habit that we are taught in this text to help us give freely is to remember how God has given to and guided us. When we remember His faithfulness, it is easy for us to take steps of faith. What are you offering back to God today? Are you giving Him the best of your calendar, checkbook, and circumcised heart?
“Praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear"”
Psalms 112:1, 4-5, 8
Do you want to learn to live with an abundance mindset and learn to have a heart that abides closely with Jesus? David gives us some clues on how to do this. He says that when we approach each day with reverence and grow our view of how great God is that the natural response will be to delight in the doing His will. Consider in your own life how when you have a mentor or friend who produces fruit in their lives that you admire how you are more readily eager to listen to their advice. Taking investment advice from Warren Buffett would be a good idea as would be basketball tips from Michael Jordan.
God is greater than any of our human heroes and more trustworthy to lead us to the eternal life that overflows with abundance. Should we not delight in what He tells us? David says good will come to those who are generous. He is saying the people who demonstrate trust with what they offer back to God will live with secure hearts and reduce the power of fear. What do your offerings say about what you want and how you see God?
“Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value, but righteousness delivers from death. Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son...The wages of the righteous is life"
Proverbs 10:2, 4-5, 12, 16, 19, 21, 24
Have you ever been cleaning out your home and come across something that no longer has value, but at some point, had been something you just had to have? Wisdom tells us that there are only certain things in life that will have lasting value and that we would do well to hold onto a kingdom mindset as a filter when determining what matters.
Wisdom reminds us that hard work is a good thing for it produces an abundant harvest. It also helps us to appreciate what we have. Solomon is saying that we earn so much more than just resources when we pursue doing the right things in life. We earn a quality of our lives that far exceeds common compensation. Is there anything you have been working for that might not have lasting value?
“For the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will offer sacrifice in the land of the north by the River Euphrates. “Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel. I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, for I am with you,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 46:10, 27-28
God knows that the top barrier we have to giving is fear. Look at this passage. He repeats the message to overcome fear multiple times because God knows the impact fear has on our hearts. Fear makes us worry about not having enough or what could go wrong. The enemy of our lives wants us to be afraid. God wants us to walk by faith with confidence that there is nothing to fear in the future. He is teaching us to trust today with the tomorrows that will come. Are there any fears that are impacting your faith today? Is there anything that you are afraid of the impacts how freely you give?
“I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man...After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings."
Acts 24:14-18, 25
Paul demonstrated walking by faith and trusting God by practicing the principles that God had taught His people about offering by living out his own life as an offering to God. What possession did Paul hold tightly to above others? His hope in God that comes from knowing the resurrected Christ. Because he held this truth above all his possessions, he was able to freely give back gifts to the poor even when materially he had little.
How can we learn from this truth today? How can your hope in the resurrection change how tightly you hold what you have been given? What happens when we see everything we have as a gift from God? Does that not allow us to freely give as we have freely received? What if we treated our careers, companions, and circumstances as a gift from a loving Heavenly Father? Would that not change our approach to how we stewarded each of these? God is calling us to walk by faith. How can you practice the principle of offering your best back to Jesus in all you do and with all you have? Where does He want to grow you in your giving today?