“But the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.’ So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”
Cheap worship isn’t for God!
David had to go to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and build an altar to the Lord to stop a plague. Araunah was ready to give David whatever he needed, for free. But David insisted that he himself should pay for it. He said, “I will not sacrifice burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” David didn’t want to offer God cheap worship.
These days we aren’t requested to burn offerings on the altar. That’s not how we worship God! Jesus himself said that God is looking for people to worship him in spirit and in truth.
But I wonder how much of our worship is cheap worship? Cheap worship exists when our worship costs us nothing. When we come to God, but do not intend to give ourselves to him. We listen to the songs, but we don’t sing our praise to God. When we listen to prayers, but we don’t bring him our own intercession. We hesitantly lay a dollar when the offering comes by because we have to, not because we want to. We leave the church building and we are more concerned with meeting our own needs than helping others. We don’t share the good news of salvation with others because we don’t want to risk embarrassment or can’t be bothered.
That’s what cheap worship looks like! Learn from David and choose to offer God something that costs you. Give God your time, your life, your dreams, your songs, your prayers…. Choose to sacrifice everything for him and his Kingdom.
What would “expensive” worship look like for you?
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