Yesterday at worship team meeting, something was shared..


David Builds an Altar
18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." 19 So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad. 20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?"
"To buy your threshing floor," David answered, "so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped."

22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 O king, Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May the LORD your God accept you."

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."
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels [c] of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. [d] Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.



It was something that I had been thinking about recently. I sign off everyone of my emails with the line "Never give God anything that will cost you nothing", a spin off from this passage where David says that he will not give God an offering that cost him nothing.


I use it for 2 reasons. Number 1, I truly believe God deserves our everything. There is nothing in our lives that God doesn't deserve. When you understand that God has given us everything in life, giving ourselves up to Him becomes much easier, whether it be time, money or even intangible things like our own will and agenda. It hurts, oh boy it hurts, especially when you are already so tight for time and other things, or especially when you want something else so badly, but when you look at a bigger perspective and not just the here and now benefits, I think I can say assuredly that it is all worth it.


Number 2 reason is for the person who first taught the phrase to me. Shook Fund. She used to tell the Wesley Chorale this. I've been thinking about her lately, even before yesterday. Been thinking that Darryl would have been in Primary 1 this year, probably in ACS just as his dad had been. Shook Fund was a person who lived that phrase out and she was a person who exemplified Christ in her life. There was always a smile on her face and the love of God exuded from her to everyone around. She was about the nicest person I ever knew and one of the greatest Christian leaders I ever had.

Make My Life A Sacrifice
;2:05 AM

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