The solution is sacrifice
The solution is sacrifice
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:17
Resources aren’t enough
Will we save our synod if each of us sacrifices the cost of a cup of coffee every day? Should congregations sacrifice dreams of new local ministries or new church buildings in order to redirect that money to the synod? Which synodical program do we sacrifice to reach a balanced budget? Those sacrifices leave us the same as we were.
God says he doesn’t need those kinds of sacrifice. “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills . . . If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it” (Psalm 50:9-12). Our God has plenty of resources!
A broken spirit creates a new attitude
So what sacrifice is the solution? After the prophet Nathan condemned him with the words, “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7), King David offered the sacrifice God desired: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” That sacrifice changes us.
Do you hear the same words of condemnation? “You are the man!” “You are the woman!” Nearly 3,000 years ago, the Lord spoke through Amos: “I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished” (Amos 3:15). God’s people enjoyed a higher standard of living than their ancestors, but they had forgotten to whom their money and their houses belonged. Are North American churches struggling financially because North Ameri-can Christians have lost sight of why the Lord has entrusted great wealth to us?
The solution is sacrifice! Let us offer to God the sacrifice he desires, the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart that confesses, “Lord, I have failed to dedicate my life to you. I have failed to dedicate my finances to you.” No comparison with others. We compare ourselves only with God’s standard. That comparison crushes us. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
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