GIVE WILLINGLY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, "These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do: For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death. Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day."

Moses said to the whole Israelite community, "This is what the Lord has commanded: From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.”

"All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded: the tabernacle with its tent and its covering, clasps, frames, crossbars, posts and bases; the ark with its poles and the atonement cover and the curtain that shields it; the table with its poles and all its articles and the bread of the Presence; the lampstand that is for light with its accessories, lamps and oil for the light; the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the curtain for the doorway at the entrance to the tabernacle; the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils; the bronze basin with its stand; the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard; the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard, and their ropes; the woven garments worn for ministering in the sanctuary—both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests."

Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses' presence, and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the Lord.

Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or hides of sea cows brought them. Those presenting an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it.

Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun—blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen. And all the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goat hair.

The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. They also brought spices and olive oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense.

All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do.

Exodus 35:1-29

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In the opening verses of Exodus, chapter 35, we find Moses giving the Israelites a call to action regarding the commandments he had received from the Lord. After a brief reminder about observing the Sabbath, Moses begins to discuss God’s directions regarding the construction of the tabernacle, the making of the items that would be within the place of worship, and the articles that the priests would wear.

You’ll recall that God had given Moses very specific directions for all this during the first Israel’s leader went before him, spending forty days and nights on Mount Sinai. There, the Lord provided a detailed oral blueprint for building the tabernacle and its components, not only for the present but the future as well. And of interest, those specifications would later come into play when God’s temple was built in Jerusalem, just multiplied since that permanent structure would obviously be much larger than the portable worship place the Israelites would build while in the wilderness.

Well, before anything could be built or made, materials would be needed and God had given Moses the following instructions for getting these supplies:

"Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give."

This was a “Reader’s Digest abbreviated” statement from a more lengthy statement from that first visit Moses made. As a refresher, here’s what God said then:

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to bring Me an offering. You are to receive the offering for Me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

“Then have them make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” Exodus 25:1-9

Note that in both of these scripture excerpts, the Lord wants offerings only from those “whose heart prompts them to give”. From this, I believe there are some key points regarding giving that applied not just to the days of the Old Testament Israelites but to believers today as well.

First, those who give to the Lord should be willing to do so.

In today’s passage, we find God saying this:

"From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece."

“Everyone who is willing.”

These four words resonate in these verses for being willing to give is far different than the feeling that you’re giving because you have to. It’s a giving not driven by compulsion but rather the working and moving of the Holy Spirit within the heart of the believer, a working and moving that leads them to gladly offer the Lord what He desires. They delight in doing anything that would be pleasing to Him.

Need an example of what this looks like. Here’s another scripture passage from First Chronicles where we find these words from David, a man who had a reputation of being after God’s heart:

"O Lord our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building You a temple for Your holy name, it comes from Your hand, and all of it belongs to You. I know, my God, that You test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly Your people who are here have given to You. O Lord, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of Your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to You." 1 Chronicles 29:16-18

This passage leads me to a second point about giving:

Everything we have comes from God and belongs to Him.

Unfortunately, too often we tend to cling to the things we have as if everything we own is ours but the truth is that we wouldn’t have anything without God’s mighty, generous provision. And so when we consider all that we have, we need to realize that we only have it because He has given it to us.

Therefore, when our Lord calls us to give, He is only asking us to give back some of what He gave us.

Here’s the final point for today:

We can (and should) give more than just material things.

Note in our scripture passage for today that God called on His people to use the talents that He had blessed them with to take the materials and make the things He commanded. Whether they were a builder or a spinner of yarn or linen, they were expected to use whatever specialized skill they had to accomplish what God wanted.

We need to know that there are other things we can give God outside of material things and beyond talents, here are some other things we should consider, things that everyone can do.

We can share our time with someone.

God gives all of us twenty-four hours each, every day. We need to invest that time wisely, giving it to our Lord and others He wants us to serve.

We can share encouragement with others.

Who doesn’t like a “pick-me-up” from someone?

Anyone can say a kind or complimentary word to someone and we should seek to do this within every opportunity God provides. Sometimes you’ll never know how much it can boost and improve the way a person is feeling in their life.

We can love unconditionally.

It doesn’t cost anything to love your neighbor as yourself as Jesus commanded (Mark 12:31) and this should come naturally for any believer. For before they love anyone else, they should first love God with all their heart and mind and soul and strength, also commanded by Jesus (Mark 12:30). When it’s done in that order, the love of God saturates a Christian to the point where any love they share isn’t really their love but His.

Given this, we know the Lord loves unconditionally. We can too through Him.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, when it comes right down to it, there’s really no reason or excuse why any believer is unable to give when it comes right down to it. Every single person has something they can contribute to make to honor God and His Kingdom work here on earth or make a difference in the life of another.

With this, some closing questions for self reflection:

How would God grade me on the matter of giving?

Am I actively seeking opportunities to give to others?

Do I willingly and willfully seek to use the gifts that God has given me to further His kingdom and glorify His name?

Do I truly see that everything I have really belongs to God for it has come straight from His hand?

Let me finish this by saying that there’s no such thing as a perfect giver. Each day gives us a chance to be better at it and we’ll always improve when we seek to emulate our Savior Jesus who showed us exactly what sacrificial giving looks like. For He didn’t hold onto His life but rather freely surrendered it in order to bring us salvation.

Jesus was willing to give up everything in obedience to His Father’s calling. Today, He sits at God’s right hand in authority over all Heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18-20, 1 Peter 3:22).

As His disciples, we need to follow His example when God calls us to give for one day we will inhabit a mansion that Jesus has prepared for us (John 14:2-6). When we do, none of us will take anything from this world along for the ride so in the here and now, let’s all give, doing so willingly and cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.