Sacrifice

“No. I’ve got to buy it from you for a good price; I’m not going to offer God, my God, sacrifices that are no sacrifice.”

2 Samuel 24:24

I used to be great at Madden. I would play every day but I wasn’t playing in the way most people play. Most people look forward to games and playing against their friends but I played to be a mogul. My favorite feature was franchise mode. In franchise mode, you were able to be a team owner/general manager. You could set ticket prices and concessions and build the business side of your team. But my favorite part was the trades. I used to create super teams in a year. I always played with the Kansas City Chiefs as my team, who at the time were 2-14 in real life, and I would take them from worst in the league to undefeated seasons with multiple Super Bowl wins. I remember one time I played all night with my dad and traded up to have Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Michael Vick all on the same team. That’s how much of a dog I was in trading.

You may be wondering, how did you get super teams without cheating? And my answer would be that I knew how to flip assets, especially draft picks. I would take something that wasn’t valuable to me, find another team who might be able to use it and trade it for something that was valuable to me. I would trade up for draft picks and then use those draft picks to get big-name players. I was essentially trading trash for gold. 

My friend recently sent me a quote that said: “Always look for the fool in deals and if you don’t find one it’s you.” I’m sure we all like deals and are drawn to the ones that may seem a little top-heavy in our favor. It’s almost dumb to not accept such a steal at times even if it short changes the other person involved, and that’s probably what I would have done in David’s situation. 

King David had just made a mistake, and to make things right, he wanted to build an altar and sacrifice to God. He went to this guy’s house and was like, “Yo let me buy some of your land so I can build an altar here.” The guy is like “Nah my king, let me give it to you! And here are some other things to help you! I want to give in  support of your sacrifice!”

I would’ve been like “Sure! I get free land and free stuff for this sacrifice? Why not!” But David does something interesting. He’s like “Nah. I can’t present a sacrifice to God that cost me nothing.”

And I think there is something big here. David could have just gone through the motions of their traditions, and sacrificed for free, but Nah. He put more thought into it and really wanted to give of his time and treasure and offer them to God. I think a lot of times we look for deals with God. We may give him time when we have nothing else to do or are just bored. We may only return tithe when we have an excess. We may only look out for others when we are certain our needs will be supplied. It’s easy to only give to God and His purpose when it doesn’t cost us anything. But I’m here to argue that the best acts of sacrifice are just that: sacrifices. 

We may not build altars and sacrifice livestock as they did back in the day, but I think we can still be called to live according to the same principle--giving things that are important and valuable to us to show that God is more valuable. 

You may put value in your academics, but God may put it on your heart to slow down your study session to help someone else. That’s a sacrifice. 

You may be more popular and love how you’re viewed, but God may impress you to befriend and love on the weird kid. That may be a sacrifice. 

I’m not saying you have to give everything and just be a hermit. Just don’t lie to yourself, acting like you’re giving more when it’s not a real sacrifice. Sacrifices will look different for different people but they mean the same thing. It’s us being reminded of what matters, and that’s God. 

It’s hard to risk comfort and security and image to give at times, but that’s where trust comes in. The whole point of sacrifice is to reposition God as the head, and to remind us that our needs are supplied by Him--not by what we have. Sometimes we are called to give the things that benefit us because we need to be reminded that our strength comes from God--not from our possessions. Also, we may need to be reminded to trust that God will replace and fill any void we are afraid of opening. 

I remember times where I strongly felt God tell me to give money to someone who needed it. And I’m not rich. I had like $30 to my name. And guess what? God said to give like $25 so they could get what they needed. It was hard but that process following where God was leading me and trusting that He would provide for me taught me a lot

Maybe it’s your time. Maybe it’s your influence. Maybe it’s your gifts that God is placing on your heart to give to someone who may need it. 

Don’t hold on more to things or ideas that you don’t hold on to God.

Are the things we give God actual sacrifices or just trash we hope we get a return for? Just something to think about. 

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