That Which Costs Me Nothing

I must confess that I've been rather distracted recently. Maybe it's my new, fun, single friends; maybe it's the longer, warmer summer days; maybe it's the fact that my accountability partner was MIA for awhile... But for whatever reason, my God-time has definitely been lacking of late. So, in an attempt to get back on track, I pulled out an old book this week, a classic I read in college called Lady in Waiting. The first chapter, Lady of Reckless Abandonment, talks about finding fulfillment in God alone and using your time of singleness to really develop that relationship. Good stuff.

But the one thing that really stood out to me was a particular verse, 2 Samuel 24:24. Before this, David is told to build an altar to the Lord on Araunah's threshing floor. When he tries to buy the threshing floor, however, Araunah offers to simply give it to him instead, along with oxen for the burnt offering, tools, etc. "But the king [David] replied to Araunah, 'No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.' So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen..." This passage reminds me of the story of the poor widow giving everything she had in the temple (Luke 21:1-4). Jesus praised her, saying, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

Convicting. Not so much about money, but about time. When I offer up to Jesus the last few minutes of my day, when there's nothing to watch on T.V. and no more websites to distract myself with, when I'm already half asleep... that costs me nothing. And it's worth nothing. If He is my top priority, as I say that He is, it's high time I start making decisions that reflect that.