Bill Huntley

Sacrificial Living

Over 2000 years ago Jesus took the disciples to the temple, a sacred place where you can see the comings and going of the people of Israel. You could see the actions and reactions of the people as they came to the temple to bring their offering. In those days there wasn’t paper money, it was coinage so you couldn't drop in a few bills and slip out quietly. I can imagine there were folks that came to see who would give what, people that built a skill out of listening to the coins drop to tell you just how much was given. I can imagine someone coming by and dropping in $10.00 in coins. The folks watching would be whispering to them selves, “that was $10.00 in quarters”, another person comes by and drops in a sack full of coins. Those watching start talking between them selves saying ”who is he trying to fool? That was only $1.00 in pennies!”. Another person comes by and drops in a bunch of coins, this time you can hear them saying “now that person is one to watch, that was over $100.00!”. While they are still talking about the guy that just dropped in the larger amount, an elderly lady came by and as silently as she could slid in 2 cents. No one paid her any attention, she was insignificant. I can see Jesus giving one of the apostles a nudge with his elbow, “did you see that? That was amazing, fantastic!”. You can see Mark looking around not knowing what to say, Peter looks at Mathew and tells him to just say yes, after all Jesus will tell them what he is talking about anyway. None of them saw what was so significant, but they didn’t want to admit it. Jesus, knowing his friends minds, told them what that elderly lady just did. He told them that he just saw her give more than anybody had so far that day. This left the disciples a bit confused after all they have witnessed one person putting in over a $100.00, how can those two pennies be seen as being more than that? Jesus went on to explain to them that he just saw someone willing enough to put in everything they had. Her giving wasn’t some amount that was given from her abundance, it was everything. That man that gave over $100.00 didn’t give that much, after all as far as he was concerned if he fell short on cash because of what he gave he could always sell off one of his several hundred sheep and make it back, no big deal. But that lady, she came in talking to God saying God I give everything I have, I am depending on you from this point. Now that was sacrifice.

This is how God expects us to live our lives, not just in regards to money but in all we do for him. God doesn’t look at what we do or what we give based on the volume on the giving, he looks at the sacrifice of the offering. What did the offering mean to you when you gave it. If I have nothing to do and I decide to spend a few hours helping out with meals on wheels, he looks at that as a good thing but it wasn’t any sacrifice on my part. I simply wanted something to help fill my time. Now if you are someone that is holding down two jobs just to get by and you still find time to work with the children in your local church, that too is good but it is also worth so much to God because you gave it out of your need and not out of your abundance.

How any times have you hade the opportunity to help in some way, be it by monetary giving or giving of talents, but was just too busy or tired to do so. I can say that there have been many times in my life I missed the mark in this area. Every time I missed the mark in this way I not only deprived those the gift was for but I also deprived my self. God wants to bless us and it is in these sacrificial times that he does. Am I saying that every thing must be a major sacrifice? No, I am not. But there needs to be sacrifice in our lives when it comes to our giving to God or our giving means nothing. Fathers, how many times have you forgone things like lunches so your children could have what they needed? Wives, how many times have you gotten up at 4am to help see your husband off to work when you really didn’t need to and were tired in the first place? If we are willing to make these kind of sacrifices for our children and our spouses whom we love why is it so hard for us to do this for our loving God and King?