Grateful. Amazed. Thankful. Humbled. Joyful.
These are just a few of the adjectives that describe our feelings towards everyone on our prayer and financial partnership team. Yet these words fall short: Understatements of the year.
“But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this?” 1 Chronicles 29:14
Look carefully at the verses before and after this passage. What motivated the people to give? The gifts were not just to meet a physical need – the building of Jerusalem’s Temple. The ultimate goal was not to have a magnificent temple, but to deliver riches directly to God so that He could be made renowned and glorious.
King David never once says, “Wow, look at what WE can do. We provided all this bounty and all this glimmering stuff. Man, I can only imagine what people will think of US when they pass by the temple my son is going to build!” Quite the opposite attitude is voiced through King David. In fact, David barely mentions the temple; he calls out for the people to “bless the Lord.” Worship. Bow your face low. Focus attention on how amazingly great He is. Can you imagine what it might have been like to be in the assembly when King David “blessed the Lord?” You could hear his soul express all the truth about God’s physical and spiritual blessings and His power, majesty and dominion. “For the temple is not for man but for the Lord God.” (vs 1)
In the New Testament, we see another picture of beings freely pouring out offerings of worship. The Revelation 5 glimpse of the throne room shows us Christ – the Perfect Lamb – as the only one in the universe who is worthy to receive expensive gifts …and the only One who is worthy to use our gifts (which came from Him and belong to Him anyway) to magnify the absolute glory of His Name. Jesus is the only one worthy to rule.
So, by giving to Him and serving Him in any means, great or small, we get the extreme honor of participating in making His Name great. In a nutshell, this is why we’re so humbled and glad to serve with Cru. And, likewise, our gladness increases when we get to serve in partnership with you – through your giving.
“Then the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly, for they made their offering to the Lord with a whole heart.” (vs 9)
The amounts given by the people were enormous. But they rejoiced over the manner in which it was given. The people loved God and treasured Him so much that they freely gave all their treasures.
As an aside, I find it interesting in the passage that this highly valuable, overflowing collection was handed over to Solomon at this point. Young and inexperienced, David’s son Solomon is chosen by God to be the chief steward of the gifts for building the temple. From a human perspective, this seems like an open door for corruption, or at best, a job to be poorly completed. Yet, as I wrote about last time, God touched Solomon with wisdom to realize that “unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers build in vain.” (See previous post on Vain Building)
Climbing Mount Fully Funded 
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1) We are in a season of full time fund raising – trusting Him for a significant increase in monthly contributions to keep us in ministry. There are at least 3 reasons why we believe raising support is very good – read our previous post here. But basically just pray that we seek the Giver before the gifts. And, like King David, that we would bless the Lord regardless of when or how He provides.
2) As you can see in the photo of our progress chart above, we are praying specifically for an increase of $1,500 per month committed by April 30. The Lord has provided in amazing ways already, but it’s a steep climb up the mountain! Pray that we can find 15 people who will gladly commit to giving $100 per month.