Your Gift

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23–24)

It is easy, and in fact common, for believers to have a rather upside-down perspective on church. We tend to go expecting to get something from God, rather than to give something to Him. Some go to experience that exhilarating feeling that liturgy or a charismatic event can provide. Others go to be presented with a cerebral challenge for the week. Still others go to be uplifted. There are many good things that one can come away with from a church experience.

But here Jesus speaks of something that should be routine—giving. If asked what should compel us to give to God, I suspect most Christians would immediately cite Jesus’ sacrifice to redeem us as reason enough. However, Jesus is teaching about giving here before He has even suggested that He has come to lay down His life for us. So, we need to think beyond our Savior’s marvelous gift to other things for which we should thank God.

Surely a list of obvious things will come to mind, falling into the broad category of God’s providence. Then, there are plenty of friends and family members to be thankful for. But Jesus is speaking of something far more important here—something that we tend to overlook in a subconsciously hypocritical fashion: mercy.

Essentially, Jesus is suggesting this: Does it make sense to come thank God for a level of love and forgiveness that He clearly shows toward us, while we are unwilling to show that same mercy toward others? Jesus reveals later in this sermon, “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” I don’t know about you, but I see that as a sobering prospect. If we were to be judged today according to the way we judge others, how would we fare? Jesus is compelling us to thank God, through our gifts, by inspiring us to be as merciful toward others as He is toward us. This is not easy, but it should be our attitude and is most certainly our responsibility as believers.

And what should we give? Most of us give money. But again, God has something to say about this through Isaiah: “Stop bringing meaningless offerings!” (Isaiah 1:13). When we offer money, there is often no heart in the gift at all. It is frequently done out of a sense of obligation to maintain the church and indirectly give toward good causes. So, what other gifts can we offer? Flowers for the service; a voice in the choir; service as an usher or greeter? There are plenty of things that we can do as a gift to God.

But God is truly yearning for only one gift. He wants us to exercise the free will He gave us to give ourselves back to Him in life.

long service. This, too, is not easy, but anything less is a compromise. Certainly, Jesus does not expect us all to “sell all you have, give to the poor and come follow me.” But we can certainly try our best to let selfishness be pushed out of us, to be replaced by a more Christ-like attitude. It is our best attempt at giving back to God—to become that vessel or lamp that does not call attention to itself, but rather to the love of our marvelous Savior within us.

This is the gift God most desires from us. And as we grow toward the point where we completely understand what God has done for us, we realize that it becomes ever easier to give such a gift back to Him. We begin to truly understand Jesus’ command: “Freely you have received; freely give.”

When “offering your gift at the altar,” let the gift be more of you.

Father, help us to remember that we give as freely as we recieve and we have recieved so much. More importantly, remind us that we cannot give from our hearts if we are harboring anything against our neighbor. Press us to forgive others before thanking you for forgiving us. Amen