I read recently of a young African girl who watched anxiously as the collection plate drew nearer and nearer to her, writes Sharon Elson. She had no money, she had nothing to give. She searched her pockets and found only a single button. She was fearful, what would the pastor say, what would the people around her think?
Then the plate arrived, she took it with trembling hands. She bowed her head and felt that God had given her an idea. She placed the collection plate on the floor and stepped very carefully onto it and whispered, “Lord I give myself”.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8:5 that the Macedonian Church did very much the same thing. Having nothing they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to the visiting evangelists, Paul and Co.
That first dedication to God led the Church to receive over flowing joy enabling them to give in rich generosity. It’s noted that they gave far above their means and even pleaded for the chance even the privilege of giving to the work of God seeing it as a service to the saints.
Matthew 26:39 states that Jesus gave himself, or rather surrendered himself wholeheartedly, to do the will of his father. And in Hebrews we have that he did this for the joy set before him – becoming poor so that we may ‘through his poverty’ become rich – 2 Corinthians 8:9.
Whenever I struggle to let go of my wants or my time I remember that I am not my own I have been brought at a price the precious blood of Christ was spilled out for me on Good Friday. He gave himself for me so the very least I can do is give myself to him