Give Our Best to God

Rev. Shine P. Thomas

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word or truth” (2Timothy. 2:15 RSV).

We need to give our best to God. The act of worship is in fact giving ourselves to God. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1. Some Jews were not offering their best and the bible condemned them for it. “And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?" Malachi 1:8. Is it not evil today when we do not give our best to God?

In the New Testament we do not offer animal sacrifices as the Jews did but we give Him our lives in service to Him as a living sacrifice. In doing so we must give Him our all, yes everything that we have. Anything we do for God must be our very best. Jesus tells us, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" Matthew 22:37.

God deserves the highest quality of worship service we can provide. For me as a preacher, that means He deserves the best messages I can preach. For the worship team that means He deserves the best that you can offer. For the church leaders that means God deserves the best in quality of whatever you do to Him. For church members it means to get involved in a new ministry at church. It even can be in your prayers, getting new comers to the church, reaching the unreached, participating in the church activities and so on. We need to give our best from our income to the Lord in means of tithing, offering, free gift, and for missions.

Since God gave his best for you and me through Jesus Christ God expects us to give our best to Him. It is not that God is greedy or in needed, when God looks at our heart of giving our best God starts to give unconditionally to the one who gives.

I know about a poor family in Brazil who gave their daughter for the ministry. Even though the family was poor they gave their talented, educated daughter for mission work outside Brazil. They were staying in an old house without money for renovation. Finally the Government of Brazil took over the plots for some project and their house was also marked for demolition. The government gave them a huge compensation which was much beyond the price of the land. With that money they bought a new house to stay and are having some surplus money for their survival.

When we give our best to God, God starts working in our life. Are we giving our best sacrifice to God? If not, let us start doing so which allows His unconditional favor to flow through our lives.