What is it costing you to give in this season of Lent? Actually, that’s a great question to ask any time of year, but since Lent is a season of reflection, it seems like an especially fitting question for each of us to reflect on today. What is it costing you/me to give in this season? Now the “giving” that I’m speaking of is that of our giving to God. What is it costing me?
This question came to light in a story involving King David in the Old Testament book of 1 Chronicles. David has just done something that dishonors and displeases God. (No, it’s not the Bathsheba story. Yes, David messes up numerous times in the Old Testament.) God sends judgment or punishment upon the people of Israel because of David’s disobedience. Part of the punishment was God sending an angel of destruction to destroy Jerusalem. God relented and stopped the angel of destruction, but the angel stood beside Jerusalem awaiting further instructions.
David was told to erect an altar on the site where the angel of destruction was standing. The farmer who owned the land was threshing wheat at that spot. David asked this individual, his name was Ornan, to sell him the land so that David could build an altar to God. Ornan first said that he’d just give him the land and all that was needed out of respect for the king and to be of service. But David refused saying, “I will not take what belongs to you, and I will not offer a sacrifice to God that costs me nothing.”
Take notice of that last phrase. “I will not offer a sacrifice to God that costs me nothing.” David has recognized that a part of following the ways of God is that there is a cost involved. It requires something of the person, not just a mindless act or a meaningless gift…no, there is a cost involved. It costs us something!
Jesus was getting at the same thing when he told some who were interested in him to leave their families, their work, their certainty and come follow him. This is why Jesus pointed out the incredible gift of the widow at the temple. Jesus said most of the offerings given to God at the temple were given out of people’s excess, or in a sense, their pocket change. However, the widow gave everything she had to offer. It cost her something…and she knew it.
I am really struck by David’s words to Ornan. “I will not offer a sacrifice to God that costs me nothing.” I’m going to be chewing on that simple phrase and what it means for me today. It would have been so easy for David to take the land and everything he wanted for the sacrifice, but it wouldn’t have cost him anything. It wouldn’t have been as meaningful to David to make that offering because he really didn’t have any skin in the game, as they say.
We are a blessed people. I am very blessed in so many ways. So often I give out of my excess…it’s easy to do, but does it cost me anything? Does it cost me anything that I really notice or miss? In this season of reflection and examining our faith, this is a great question to wrestle with. Does my/our giving to God cost us anything that would be considered a sacrifice?
David’s words are a great statement for each of us to consider. “I will not offer a sacrifice to God that costs me nothing.” God’s gift of love and forgiveness to us cost God his son. As we move closer toward the cross in this holy season, may we consider what our giving to God costs us. What does that kind of giving represent in our lives? It’s true we can never outgive God, but our giving is something that can be, and like David reflects, it needs to be something that we notice, something that gets our attention. Yes, in our giving to God…it needs to cost us something that helps us give honor and glory to God.
Pastor Keith