it has to cost something

I want to draw attention in today’s reading at 2 Samuel 24:18-25. David was visiting Araunah, and was needing to get the things together for the offering to the Lord. When David told Araunah what he needed, Araunah basically told David to take whatever he wanted at no charge. But look at David’s response, he tells Araunah that he will not sacrifice anything to the lord that did not cost him anything. Man how true is that. I mean, David is king. He could have offered every sheep, cow, chicken, everything living in the entire region at his very command, but no, he said he would not sacrifice anything that cost him nothing. He knew it would be meaningless to God if it cost David nothing. This reminded me of Pete’s sermon a couple weeks ago about “Uncommon Giving”. How many times do we offer up to God our leftovers? Or how many times do we tell God, I will do this, only if you do this? Or how many times do we say “I will go there lord, o but I need to take care of my things first, then I will go, if there is time left over”? Or how many times do we spend our money on things that we want, and if there is any leftover, maybe then I’ll give some to the church? What are you giving God today? Whether it be time, money, effort, is it costing you something, or is the leftovers?