2 Samuel23-24, Luke 19:1—27 • Key Verse: 2 Samuel 24:24
Most people like to get something for nothing. The less it costs, the better. – ‘ ,
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The opposite is true as well. At times people try to give what costs them nothing. If it was free to
begin with, it may seem priced just right to be a gift.
Consider the newlyweds who were impressed with the expense of the gift they received from
friends who also were recently married. Newlyweds typically do not have that much to spend on
gifts for others! It was indeed a nice gift.
Then in the box they found a second gift card. Call it recycling, if you like, but the gift the
friends had given was a gift they had received. The couple enjoyed the gift and the humor of the
situation—and later found times when they also gave gifts that cost them little or nothing.
Giving something that costs us nothing may be a wise use of our resources, until we try to pass it
off as a sacrifice given to God. We may think we retrieved the first gift card out of the box, but
God knows. He knows the stinginess of our hearts and how in pride we sometimes try to make
ourselves look generous.
David would have none of this type of giving. “I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt
offerings/that cost me nothing” (24:24). God wants us to acknowledge our dependence on Him
and our Worship of Him in our giving. It won’t happen if all we do is give what costs us nothing.
At times we need to evaluate our giving. Toddy these verses remind us to think through again
how we acknowledge God in our finances.

Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett
www.backtothebible.in