Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. (2 Sam 24:24)
People ask me at times how much they should give to the Lord. And I usually say . . . GIVE TILL IT HURTS! Of course, that’s not my original, that’s David’s. Do you remember the time he numbered Israel against God’s commands? The Lord disciplined the nation on David’s behalf. The people were plagued and the angel was going after Jerusalem when the prophet told David to erect an altar and sacrifice to the Lord. He did and the plague was stopped. But when David asked a man by the name of Araunah if he could buy his field to make the sacrifice, Araunah said he would give it as a gift to the king. David turned him down and said that he wouldn’t give to the Lord that which cost him nothing. In other words, he was going to GIVE TILL IT HURT!
That poor widow in the temple during Jesus’ time GAVE UNTIL IT HURT. She wanted to give to the treasury but all she had left to her name was a few mites. Jesus was there that day in the temple and watched her put in all she had. You see she GAVE TILL IT HURT. (Mark 12:41-44)
Can you think of another example of someone who GAVE TILL IT HURT? You guessed it right . . . Jesus our Lord. He gave it all on that tree, didn’t He? He gave so others could receive. Thank-you Lord for the greatest example ever of GIVING TILL IT HURTS.
When we do service for our King, He deserves our best gift ever. Giving of our resources such as our material goods, a listening ear, our finances, our time, or whatever the occasion demands. It’s easy to just toss in a little of this and a little of that along the way. But are we GIVING UNTIL IT HURTS? That’s sacrificial love, the kind of love that comes from the Lord and goes a long way in touching people’s lives in this cold and hurting world that we live in.
So let’s be looking for opportunities this week to GIVE TILL IT HURTS!
Louie