Lately, I have been reading through some of the Old Testament. There are certain parts of the Bible that I have re-read several times--Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel usually aren't included in that list! So, I have been journeying back through some of those less-read books. I just finished 2 Samuel last night and today I can't seem to get the closing lines out of my head. You know when you finish watching a movie and the characters or quotes just seem to linger with you? That's where I'm at right now.
Let me give you a little background. Here's what went down:
God spoke through a prophet to David, telling him to build an altar to on a threshing floor that happened to be owned by another man. So, David goes to visit this man and asks to buy his land that the threshing floor is located on. Since David is the king and he is coming with such a noble purpose of building an altar to God, the man offers to give David the land for free (I mean, who doesn't offer to give the king anything he asks for...especially if he's known for being an expert warrior!) Yet, David refuses his offer. Instead, he replies, "...I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing." So, he gives the guy some money for the land and some of his oxen and there the altar is errected and the burnt offering made. And the story ends happily ever after...or at least a plague that had been hitting up Israel was averted.
So, here I am, finishing up this book and I am left with it lingering in my head. Just like those famous quotes of "Hasta la vista, baby" or "Life is like a box of chocolates," I can't seem to get over David's starring line. At the close of the book, he rolls in with something that just keeps running over and over... "I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing."
And I'm left feeling the same as if I had just watched an epic film. I am gripped with the honesty, character and loyalty of the main character. I not only enjoyed the journey of reading the details of his life, but I want to emmulate him. I am compelled to be the person that says, "I will not offer God something that cost me absolutely nothing."
Yet, how difficult is that for me to do? I honestly don't encounter that much sacrifice on a daily basis. I live in a society of convenience and prosperity. Even my faith is filled with comfort and ease. To contrast this, I look at David's time. At the close of 2 Samuel, David and his people had just endured a plague that cost them a lot of lives. Yet, despite the state he was in, he still wanted to give an offering that came with a price. How much more difficult is it for me to do the same?
Not only does this Old Testament passage challenge me, but I look to the New Testament and the words of Christ as well. In Luke 14, He says: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple...any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."
Those are tough words to swallow. Although, I don't believe Jesus is asking us to loathe everyone we come in contact with, I believe that He is calling us to give all we are to Him. Our love for friends, family, job, things, and even life itself should pale in comparison to our love for Him. The love that we exhibit to Christ should be so great that it would seem like our love for anything else would resemble hate. And that is an offering that costs something.
Can I live up to the challenge? Honestly, no. I get used to things being easy. Yet, by God's grace and the nudging of His Holy Spirit, He is calling me to something deeper. To get there, it's going to cost me something. It may be time, it may be money, it may be pieces of myself that I want to hold on to....it could be any number of things. But one thing I know is this--I want to offer myself to God because He has offered Himself to me. He has already paid the cost for the offering by giving His life. That compels me to give my own. His sacrifice did not just cost Him something, it costs Him everything...and He compels us to do the same.
"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." Luke 9:24
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