Your Gift
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the Alter and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the Alter. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matt. 5:23, 24)
It is easy, and in fact common, for believers to have a rather upside down perspective on church. We tend to go expecting to get something from God, rather than to give something to Him. Some go to experience that exhilarating feeling that liturgy or a charismatic event can provide. Others go to be presented with a cerebral challenge for the week. Still others go to be uplifted. There are a lot of good things that one can come away from a church experience with.
But, here Jesus speaks of something that should be routine – giving. And, if asked what should compel us to give to God, I suspect most Christians would immediately site Jesus’ sacrifice to redeem us as reason enough. But, here Jesus is teaching about giving when He has not yet even suggested that He has come to lay down His life for us. So, we need to think beyond our Savior’s marvelous gift to other things that we should thank God for.
Surely a list of pretty obvious things will come to mind, that fall into the broad category of God’s providence. Then, there are plenty of friends and family members to be thankful for. But Jesus is speaking of something far more important here – something that we really tend to overlook in a sub-consciously hypocritical fashion – mercy. Essentially, Jesus is suggesting this: Does it make sense to come thank God for a level of love and forgiveness that He clearly shows toward us; that we are unwilling to show towards others? Jesus reveals later in this sermon, “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” I don’t know about you, but I see that as a pretty sobering event ahead of us. If we were to be judged today according to the way we judge others, how would we fare? Jesus is compelling us to thank God, by our gifts, for inspiring us to be as merciful toward others as God is toward us. This is not easy, but it should be our attitude and is most certainly our responsibility as believers.
And, what should we give? Most of us give money. But, again God has something to say about this through Isaiah, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings!” (Isaiah 1:13) When we offer money, there is no heart in the gift at all. It is done out of a sense of obligation to maintain the church and indirectly give toward good causes. So what other gifts can we offer: Flowers for the service; a voice in the choir; service as an usher? There are plenty of things that we can do as a gift to God.
But, God is truly yearning for only one gift. He wants us to exercise the free will He gave us to give ourselves back to Him in life long service. This too is not easy, but anything less is a compromise. Certainly, Jesus does not expect us all to “Sell all you have, give to the poor and come follow me.” But, we can certainly try our best to let selfishness be pushed out of us to be replaced by a more Christ like attitude. It is our best attempt at giving back to God. Become that vessel or lamp that does not call attention to ourselves, but rather the love of and for our marvelous Savior within us. This is the gift God most desires from us. And, as we grow toward the point where we completely understand what God has done for us, we realize that it becomes ever easier to give such a gift back to Him. We begin to really understand Jesus’ command, “Freely you have received: freely give.”
When “offering your gift at the Alter”, let the gift be more of you.