Giving Jesus Our Best

Mondays are always tough for me, and most pastors that I know.  It's very hard to explain the "holy hangover" that I suffer from, beginning sometime mid-afternoon on Sunday and lingering through part of the day Monday.  

Today it's hitting harder than usual.  I preached on giving and tithing yesterday, which is always tough.  It's tough because a lot of people don't want to hear about it to begin with.  It's tough because it can appear selfish - my salary and the material well being of my family is directly related to the generosity of the people in the church I pastor.  And it's tough because I always worry that I've offended or hurt somebody with something I've said when I preach about money.

But discipleship, and leading others towards deeper, more committed discipleship is tough work.  Our human nature is to cling to who we were and to cling to our sin and disobedience.  God's desire is for us to move more and more towards freedom everyday and to become more and more obedient.  Giving financially is just like anything else in the life of discipleship - it's costly and sacrificial.  A life of sacrifice lived for Jesus means that we feel it - sacrifice and discipleship are costly.  Not just financially, but in matters of the heart, mind and will.

Simply put, the call to discipleship, the call to follow Jesus, is a call to give God our very best without holding back.  Discipleship is a call to give to God and to others out of our wealth, and not out of our poverty.  When we give out of poverty - or when we give grudgingly because we're focused on what we don't have - it leads to bitterness and anxiety.  When we give out of our wealth - when we give joyfully and generously because we're focused on what we do have - it leads to freedom, love and worship.

In today's reading from Matthew 26, we see a beautiful example of what it means to give to Jesus the very best that we have.  In Matthew 26, the proverbial chips are on the table.  It's go time.  This is the beginning of the culmination of what Jesus came to do - shed his precious, sinless blood on the cross on our behalf for the forgiveness of our sins.  

In v.v. 6-13, Matthew tells the story of a woman that came to honor and worship Jesus with her very best.  We don't know for sure who the woman is.  Some speculate that it may be the woman from John 8 that Jesus redeemed and forgave when she was about to be stoned for adultery by the Pharisees.  This theory has always made perfect sense to me, although we have no way to know for sure.  If this is the same woman, she experienced extravagant grace from Jesus, and she came to Jesus to give him extravagant worship and honor.  Even if it's not the same woman, it doesn't make her worship of Jesus any less extravagant.  

She poured on Jesus a very expensive jar of perfume, an act that caused indignity among the disciples.  In Mark's Gospel, the disciples complain that the perfume was worth a year's wages.  That's some expensive stuff!

Can you imagine though giving a year's wages to show your gratitude to Jesus?  I know I struggle sometimes with the thought of giving 10% of our income in gratitude to Jesus.   I can't imagine a whole year's worth of wages at one time!  

But maybe that's because I haven't truly experienced the extravagance of Jesus' grace.  Maybe I haven't fully comprehended that Jesus has given me the very best that he has to offer, and my calling as his disciple is to give him the very best that I have in every area of my life.

I'll get off the money kick now, because giving Jesus our very best isn't just about money.  It's about our time.  It's about our effort.  It's about our love for Him and for others.  It's an attitude that should pervade every area of our lives - this attitude of extravagant giving on His behalf in honor and worship of Him.

Are you giving out of your poverty?  Again, not just your money, but your time, your worship, your effort, and your love for Jesus and others.  Do you give these things grudgingly because you focus on what you don't have and who you haven't become yet?

Or do you see the extravagance of what Jesus has given to you, and do you give out of your wealth?  Your money, your time, your worship, your effort, and your love for Jesus and others.  Do you give your best and give generously because you see all that Jesus has done for you and who you are becoming in Him?

Giving Jesus our best isn't about perfection.  It's about effort and intention.  It's about attitude.  None of us can do anything perfectly because we're not Jesus.  But we can see all that we've been given, and make a commitment to honor Jesus with the very best in every area of our lives.  He's worth it!  The cause of the Kingdom of God is worth it!