In my daily Bible reading, I recently came across a passage that flashed off the page at me. Don’t you just ADORE IT when they do that? Because it usually means by the clever strobe effect that the Almighty is trying to tell you something, and who wouldn’t want to have a personal conversation with Papa God … right? Right???
So the disco ball verse for me was Hebrews 13:16 (NASB): “Do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
Up to that point I was rolling along, zipping through the Word pretty fast, but I suddenly hit an eyeball wall. Whoa. Stop. Something didn’t sit right. I had to read it again. And then again. Why would the writer of Hebrews (whom we don’t know for sure, but many scholars think it was either Paul or Barnabas) call “doing good” and “sharing” with others a sacrifice?
A nice thing to do, sure, but a sacrifice? Nah. Totally different things. Diametrically opposite. Like me being invited to participate in a world class chess match.
I’ve always pictured a sacrificial offering in the biblical sense as something special (and often precious) that you either paid for or raised yourself, at significant personal cost, of course, and then gave back to God on an altar to be consumed, in expression of your immense gratitude for His gracious provision. Like a spectacularly charred thank-you gift.
But what about doing good or sharing is sacrificial … on that kind of a scale? Not much that I could see. And why did this incompatibility bother me so much? Was Papa God suggesting that I don’t do enough sacrificial giving – enough to make Him pleased with my priorities – on a daily basis? Hmmm.
Reminded me of another resonating Bible one-liner. Where was that? Oh yeah.
It was uttered by King David when he was scrambling to find a suitable place to build Jehovah (Papa God’s Hebrew name) an altar to ask forgiveness via an animal sacrifice for a rotten sin David had committed (aren’t we glad we don’t have to do that anymore?). In his frantic search, David approached the owner of the property he’d entered and asked about the availability of the real estate on which he was standing. The submissive owner naturally said to his majesty the king, oh, please take the land, your highness, for FREE, and all the wood and oxen (to sacrifice) and supplies you need for the altar as well.
To which King David wisely replied: “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, or offer a sacrifice which costs me nothing” (1 Chronicles 21:24).
Ooooh. There it is. That’s the zinger, isn’t it? I will not offer the LORD a sacrifice which costs me nothing. Because then it’s not a sacrifice. It’s a trifle. Worthless drivel. And in the grand scheme of things it means pretty much zilch.
For the rest of that day, I let that sobering thought percolate along with the Hebrews passage. Well, maybe my sacrificial giving was a bit too easy; I realized the majority of the things I was doing for the Lord often costs me nothing. I do them because I like to do them. On the contrary, I’m very likely to turn down the things that I don’t like doing because they’re too time consuming … or difficult … or make me expend too much energy.
In other words, they cost too much. At least by my pathetic standards.
And then – coincidentally – (NOT!) – I got a message from a dear friend asking if I could spend the afternoon with her 91-year-old mom (who lives with her) while she was at work because their regular sitter had to cancel.
Now this may not sound like much of a sacrifice to you, but because of my chronic insomnia at night and subsequent mandatory afternoon naps to be able to keep (barely) functioning until dinnertime, it’s a big deal to me. Listen, I don’t relinquish my daily naptime to ANYBODY. My very existence relies upon those two priceless hours of afternoon snooze to make up for the six I missed the night before.
Yep. My parameters are set in stone. If I miss my nappy, ain’t nobody happy.
My lips were already forming the words “sorry, no,” when I glimpsed the open Bible on my desk. “Do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Oh. Okay. I get it. I guess. This is all part of the lesson Papa God’s trying to teach me: I will not offer the LORD a sacrifice that costs me nothing.
But on the other hand, I reasoned logically (and my anxious heart was palpitating by now), I mustn’t skip my essential naptime. By experience, I knew that would mean a blossoming migraine, terminal irritability, and dead-headed zombie-ism. Oh, man. My potential sacrifice was trying to crawl off the altar. I felt the Holy Spirit’s elbow jab in my side: Ya gotta get a grip, Deb. Get your priorities straight.
So I went to granny-sit. Grinding my teeth. But I still went. And Papa God blessed my socks off with a wonderful afternoon of fun and fellowship with the perkiest and craziest and godliest old gal I could ever hope to spend time with. I didn’t even yawn once. (It might have something to do with the migraine formula Excedrin full of caffeine I choked down but no matter!)
I guess my parameters aren’t set in stone after all. And that’s a good thing, isn’t it? Because we never know what kind of sacrificial giving Papa God is going to be pleased with when our living sacrifices don’t actually crawl off the altar.
So tell me, dear BFF (Blessed Friend Forever), with which of your personal sacrifices have you felt Papa God’s pleasure lately? Which ones tried to crawl off the altar? How did you stop them? Please share below in the comments so our whole community of BFFs can benefit from what the Lord is doing in your life, sister!
P.S. Look – something new! Check out these Scripture cards for couples, a second companion to my latest daily devo, Bless Your Heart. If you recall, the first companion is 52 Ways to Bless my BFFs. Both Boxes of Blessings are available at Amazon (click on the titles to order) for only $4.99 – each contains 52 blessings you can hand out to friends and even strangers you meet everyday). What a fun and easy way to bless someone’s heart!