This is a pattern for all offerings: bring your best! This is not natural, is it? We usually give what we can afford or what doesn’t really affect us in the long run. This is why offerings in the Bible are called a sacrifice; they cost us something. They change our lifestyle. God gave us his son for all eternity, not just for one event at Golgotha. Jesus will always be fully human and fully God. When the angels worship the Son of God, they see a human face. Today when the Father looks at his son he also sees a human face. When we rise to meet him, we will be greeted by a human face. What love, what commitment to us in our humanity. What a sacrifice! The apostle Paul put it this way: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:1–2). Or as Isaac Watts instructs us to sing: “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small. Love so amazing so divine demands my soul, my life, my all.” 

Father, everything is yours. The only thing I can give you that you don’t already possess is my obedience. My offering to you is my YES; don’t let me ever be deceived to say, NO. May my lifestyle, my actions and my time be a quality sacrifice of love that is worthy of the salvation you have so freely given me for all eternity! Amen!