costly offerings

Most Christians I know, and I myself, are kind of cautious about giving. We know what we have available and we apportion it among the causes we believe in. I’ve heard many faithful church members explain that, of the 10% they give, only half goes to the church so that they have some remaining for other charities.

This morning, I wonder if we’re not all too cautious. David had something thought-provoking to say in response to a man who offered to give David land he wanted for an altar. It’s in 2 Samuel 24:24: “But the king replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.’”

If something’s easy to give up, how much does it mean to give it? When they come around the office asking for $5 to buy flowers for a funeral, I never think much about it, before or after. When I sit in the house where a grandchild is sleeping in bed, that’s pretty easy. Those ways of giving I can readily agree to because they don’t cost me anything.

Soon, I hope, my church will approach me asking for contributions to a building project. How much will I have to give before it pinches me? What size of offering would actually require me to do without something else? If I give out of my excess, but not enough to impinge on all the other things I want to do, how generous am I?

I’m reminded of something a wise mom once said during a toy drive for needy children. She told me she asked each of her kids to give up a favorite toy, not a heavily used one or one they didn’t really like. She wanted them to give something they valued, not something they were ready to do without anyway.

I think it’s easy to violate the spirit of David’s statement, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God offerings that cost me nothing.” True giving should cost me something. The kind of giving I so often do, with a careful eye to what I can afford, seems too carefully calculated not to deprive me of anything.