We do good to recognize that all of the gifts that we give to our God are small, but not too small. It's a delicate balance between recognizing the value or our gifts as well as the fact that we are never able to give anything valuable enough to God... anything truly worthy of His majesty.
Whether we give Him a temple or a couple of coins, it is the heart that matters... God looks at the heart and sees what others cannot see. He looks for the joy of the giver and their worshipful attitude.
The Seemingly Second-Rate
27 "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 28 Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, 'My Name shall be there,' so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. -1 Kings 8:27-30
In this passage, Solomon has just finished building a temple for the Lord- adorned with wooden carvings (as we saw yesterday) and the finest material. This was certainly no small gift! The time, effort, energy, and monetary costs were all great! But, Solomon does well here to recognize that this temple in all its beauty and splendor is not even enough for the majesty of our Lord and king. He has another dwelling in the highest heavens, that makes this one look positively second-rate. Yet he asks God to come into this dwelling and to hear the prayers of His people that will come their to this place.
And the Lord's response:
"I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. -1 Kings 9:3
When we give with all of our heart, even though it can never be enough... the Lord will hear our prayers and He will honor the simple gifts that we give to honor Him.
The Seemingly Small
1As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.[a] 3"I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." -Luke 21:1-4
More evident is the story of the poor widow and the offering plate. This familiar short account is told during many offertory remarks. And it serves to underline the fact that it is quality not quantity in the gifts that we give to the Lord. The rich gave based on quantity... the size and the value of their offerings. But the widow's offering was of quality. She gave 'out of her poverty' and 'put in all she had to live on.'
Even though my gifts to the church, to my friends, to individuals in need, may seem small, I pray that they may be of quality... giving out of my stipend, I pray that God would use what I have for His glory. This weekend it was so humbling to receive such generous gifts from so many... and gifts from those who are facing a move, a new child, paying for classes while working. Their gifts mean so much, because I know they come from the heart. I pray that God would teach me that type of generosity. And in some small way, I pray that our registration with idofoundation.org would help our wedding to share gifts with those who need so much more than we do, even in a small way... perhaps this is a seemingly small gift that we can give to God, by giving to His children.
No comments:
Post a Comment