“Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.”
Exodus 25:2

I once heard a pastor say in a sermon “Every time you come before Jesus, you should give Him something.”  Many people think if they give Jesus their money then they have done their duty.  In the first place, giving to Jesus is not a duty, it is a privilege.

There are many ways we can give to Jesus besides giving our money.  We can give the time and talents that He has given to us back to Him by using them to help others.  All of us have twenty four hours in a day, and it is our choice how we use them.

If you have made a heart commitment to Jesus, one day you will stand face to face with Him.  Will you have anything to give Him on that day?  We won’t be able to give Him any of our earthly possessions because they will be gone.  The only thing we can give Him is what we did for Him while we were living.

I don’t know about you, but I do not want to go and meet Jesus without knowing that I did the best I could.  He understands that we are not perfect, that we will sin every day of our life.  Just because a person is a Christian does not make him or her perfect.  All of us sin every day in some way, hopefully it is not done on purpose.

The Bible says that if we know to do good and do it not, to us it is sin.  We know to pick up the telephone and make an encouraging call to someone.  We know to go visit people and there are many other ways we can serve Jesus every day.  A lot of the time, we allow our busy schedules to interfere with doing what He has told us to do.

There is a song that says, “What shall I give Thee, Master?"  He has already answered that question for us.  He wants us to spread His Forgiveness, Compassion and Love to others.  He wants us to stop criticizing people and start encouraging them.

If we will pray for someone and allow that person to feel the Love of Jesus through us, then we will be able to stand before Him knowing that we have done the best we could.

Which offering are you giving Jesus, an offering of love to Him and others, or an offering of bitterness and strife?

June 8, 2005