I will not offer the Lord anything that costs me nothing
1 Chronicles 21:24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” I have always heard this passage use in the context of a fundraiser. Where the preacher urges the congregation or his audience to reach deep within their pockets and give an extravagant financial gift. I love the simplicity and the power of this challenge, but too often my desire to give disappear because the challenge is coming from, well, another TV evangelist, who always seem to want my money. My somewhat skeptical feeling is somehow true – because half or none of what I am being asked to give, really goes toward that cause. I think, in many ways, we have lost the act of motivating others to make greater impact with their substance and the act of inspiring them at the same time because of so much abuse from the pulpit. People are longing to be moved, …
