The Cost of Giving

This morning during my devotional I was reminded about sacrificial giving. My lesson came from the very end of 2 Samuel. The story goes that king David was going to offer a sacrifice to God and he needed to do it in a certain place. So the owner of the place (the threshing-floor) was going to give it to David for free along with the oxen. But David replies in 2 Samuel 24:24 “No, I insist on buying it from you at a price. I refuse to offer to Adonai my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” Then David goes on to purchase the threshing floor and oxen for a fair price. David insisted on offering something that had value to him. He wouldn’t offer something to God that cost him nothing. I think there’s a real lesson here, a reminder of how our giving should be.

Jesus tells us a similar story of the poor widow in the temple. She deposits just a mite into the temple treasury (a fraction of a penny) and Jesus declares that she gave MORE that everybody else. She gave sacrificially to God whereas everybody else gave out of their surplus. Like David, her giving cost her something.

I don’t think God wants us to give stoically to him. It should mean something to us. We should feel it. In God’s economy when we give sacrificially to Him the value is greater. Dollar amount doesn’t matter. God counts in what it costs to give. God looks at our heart. I think when we give like this we in turn get closer to His heart.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3