A LOVE OFFERING?

And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies; That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.–2 Samuel 7:1-2

Throughout the years I’ve observed that God generally gets the leftovers. If you’ve read Malachi you know that this isn’t a new problem. Giving God less than He demands and deserves has been the history of man. Although the goodness of God leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4) and the grace of God provides our every need (Phil. 4:19) we tend to give Him the garbage of our lives, or at least less than our best. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords we treat Him like a bum on the street. For many, their only interest in God is what He can give them. They have no concern about what they should give Him–unless it gets them a lot of attention.

For years and years I’ve seen it happen. It is especially evident when people unload the junk from their garage on the church as a donation. They then have the gall to call it a “love offering”! Really? They can’t sell it and don’t want to use it so they “give” it to the church–everything from three-legged chairs to mimograph machines. Well–you get the picture. How much love does it take to give something that is of no value or use to you?

Part of the problem is that we are much richer and less deserving than we think. If we think we are poor we tend to feel justified in not giving much. The fact of the matter is that we are rich and have no excuse to not give. In one poll, Americans who had a net worth of over one million dollars didn’t consider themselves to be rich! On the other side of the coin, most Americans believe that you must have at least one million dollars to be rich. I like what one researcher did. To show that nearly all Americans are rich he made a list of things wherein he compared our lives to those in other places around the world. Here’s what he said:

1. Take out all the furniture in your home except for one table and a couple of chairs. Use blankets and pads for beds.
2. Take away all of your clothing except for your oldest dress or suit, shirt or blouse. Leave only one pair of shoes.
3. Empty the pantry and the refrigerator except for a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a few potatoes, some onions, and a dish of dried beans.
4. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, and remove all the electrical wiring in your house.
5. Move the nearest hospital or clinic ten miles away and put a midwife in charge instead of a doctor.
6. Throw away your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies. Leave the family a cash hoard of ten dollars.

Now, with all this in mind, listen to what Dr. Paul Chappell writes by way of application:

The above list seems drastic to us, but when we consider that most of the world’s population lives in such conditions, we can easily see how we have truly been blessed by God. But God has not blessed us so we can simply enjoy such comforts. He desires that we would use our blessings to be a blessing.

David was sitting in a coveted place. He was king of Israel, respected by neighboring countries, and was enjoying a time of rest from God. Yet despite his numerous blessings, he realized something wasn’t quite right. He called Nathan, the prophet, and asked a poignant question, “See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.”

David was enjoying a cedar palace (cedar was considered a wood of royalty and was expensive), the Lord’s dwelling place was in an Ark of lesser comfort. He saw the need of a new dwelling place and sought counsel on how to provide it.

While you may not consider yourself wealthy or financially comfortable, God has blessed you financially. When you consider how little most of the world owns, you should thank God for what He’s given you. But don’t stop at thanking God. Ask Him how He would have you use your prosperity to help His work, help others, and further the Gospel.

Prayerfully seek God’s counsel in how you can use the blessings He’s given you. Take time to evaluate what you have and what you can give. Even if you don’t have much, God desires to stretch your faith and bless you even more as you open-handedly give to others of what you have.

Those observations and challenges are worthy of our consideration. It should affect every area of our life–not just what we give at church. Some people are fairly generous in what they give to the church, and thank God for that, but they never give to any other cause. It makes you wonder if the only reason they give to the church is because they know that somebody else will know and they will get some notoriety from it. Our concern for others should not be limited to one day a week. We are on call 24/7.

I can remember many times wondering how my family would make it financially. There were times when our needs exceeded what the church could or would give and it failed to provide our needs–but God never failed! Again and again He used people who gave anonymously to support us. Many times when we were scraping the bottom of the barrel and some dear saint would send exactly what we needed. Many times it came by way of a handshake with some money neatly folded up so nobody else could see. No one else had a clue as to what they were doing and that’s the way they wanted it. Their giving was not to be seen of man, but to meet the need of another. There was no praise from man (except from me), but great is their reward in heaven. I can’t talk about this without thinking about Bro. Dennis Maxey, one of the dearest friends I’ve ever had. Since he is in heaven now I can speak openly about this. Unknown to anyone else, he often saved the day for us (and others) by helping in ways that others never knew about. That’s the way he wanted it. He was more concerned about helping people than he was about calling attention to himself. You never forget people like that! Not only do I thank God for people like that, I want to be like that. Their example inspires me to become a better person. I pray that God will help me to be an inspiration to others, as others have been to me. Hopefully you feel the same. Think about it!