Give THOUGH it Hurts.

Too many people have used the phrase in the years "give until it hurts." Most of time these people are preachers that are a little nervous because the offering into the church is not what they hope it would be. (Oh. I wasn't supposed to say that out loud.)
I am thankful for the place I currently go to church. Elevation declares openly that they do not need your money, yet at the same time leads the way in generosity. They celebrate giving every week, and the people give. Not only that, but story after story pour in about how God has blessed them after they committed to give to what He is doing.
What has me on this tangent? It is simple. I started reading this morning in I Samuel. I read the story of Hannah. If you haven't read it, DO. Synopsis: She is one of two wives to Elkanah. In fact, she is the barren wife. She prays every year at the temple at the time of sacrifice, begging for a child. She asks God for a child, and promises that she will return the child to God's service. Finally, her request is granted, and she has Samuel. After she weans him, she presents him to the temple for God's service.
What she has wanted her entire life, she willingly gives up. Her reaction? Highest praise to God. Read her prayer in I Samuel 2. What had to be the hardest possible thing to do was the easiest to do in the sight of a great God that had provided the impossible. God rewarded her faithfulness and her sacrifice, and gave her more children.
What we lose here in the New Testament is the notion of sacrifice. Sacrifice is hard. Ask Jesus. We do not have to give up one of our animals every year. We give a little money in a plate every week (or two, or month, or whenever we visit the church), and think we've sacrificed. Hebrews 13 asks us to offer the "sacrifice of praise" and to share what we have as sacrifices.
Thanks to Jesus, our sacrifices need not be as drastic as in Hannah's day. We no longer have to sacrifice for our sins. It is easy to praise, or to give a couple of dollars. When you do what is hard- give what God is actually telling you to give, or going and doing something that you would not normally do to help someone you would never say hello to on the street, even though it might not be easy- that is when you honor the God that is worthy of the praise. When you find you have survived the pain, it becomes easier to do it again. Feel free to give it a try...