A Heart Prompted to Give

Exodus 25:2  “You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.”  

I am reminded of a tale of a father and son. The son wants to work for the father so the father gives him a task of digging a large hole in ground. The son quickly gets after the task eager to please his father. After he finished the hole, the son anxiously shows his father the finished work. The father looks at the hole and says to his son “now put all the dirt back in the hole and go dig me a hole over there.” The son, in bewilderment, hears what his father says and goes and digs another hole. This pattern repeats itself for a number of times until boy refused to dig another hole. He tells his father “I will not dig another hole because all I do is dig another one with nothing to show for it accept to hear you say ‘fill it in and dig over there.” The father looks at the boy and says “It was never about digging a hole son.” Sometimes we are faced with the realization that what we cherish or put value in is not what God values for us.

In the following verses, God lines out all kinds of gold, silver, and precious items Moses is to collect for an offering to God. Casual readers of this text would say that the God of the Bible seems to want all these precious items to adorn Himself and His temple, how selfish. One may also say that God always wants our best possessions to make everyone see how holy he is and a root of jealousy gets planted. The truth behind the offering God asked Moses for was to get the people to trust and love God more than their possessions. God is our provider not the strength of our portfolio or holdings. Jesus says in Matthew 6:21 “where your treasure is, your heart will be also.”

Every day we are faced with a race that begins with the world dishing up some things that Satan will use to pull our focus and attention away from the Lord. This begins with our offering and sacrifices. Therefore, examine what your heart covets and to release it God.

Will we sacrifice our motives and actions and proceed forward in the manner of Jesus? Or will we push head strong leaning heavily on our own understanding? Will we lay it down at the cross or hold it tight to our chest not giving it up? If we want to finish strong in the Lord we will lay everything we have down at feet of Jesus. He wants followers whose heart is after His heart not a heart that is focused on what it can hold that is precious to this world. God says “I have overcome the world” so we should not focus our on attention on what He has already overcome. Walk in the grace and power you have been given through Jesus Christ, nothing more nothing less.