Giving the Best

I was shopping for some painting supplies at Home Depot. The brushes and rollers are arranged like this: the cheaper items are on the bottom shelf, and they are labeled “good.” The next shelf was labeled “better,” and it contained brushes or rollers that cost more than the “good” items. At eye level the most expensive items were labeled “best.” These were all brushes and rollers that were their own company brand.

Once I bought a brush from the “good” shelf. The only thing really good about it was that it was cheap. The brush shed bristles worse than a dog shedding its winter coat. I tried picking the bristles from my painted boards, but it was fruitless. My fingers would mess up the paint, and then when I brushed over my fingerprints, the brush would shed more bristles.

Needless to say, on my next trip I did not buy from the bottom shelf. My dilemma was this: do I buy the better product or the best product. This really bothered me because I started thinking about why companies would sell a product that was not the best product that they could sell.

I decided not to buy any of the company branded products that were labeled good, better, best. I bought a more expensive brand called Wooster Pro. Granted, it was more expensive, but the brand did not have different qualities of effectiveness—only one line of brushes.

Many times we settle for less than the best. Restaurant food quality and restaurant table service, fast food quality and service, automated car washes, assistance in the grocery store and big box stores, home repairs and remodeling and pet obedience just to name a few.

God commanded people to bring their best throughout the Old Testament. In Exodus 12:5, they were instructed to offer the lamb without a flaw rather than the lamb that was lame or ill. We should always offer our very best. That was the cause of Abel's contribution being accepted as opposed to Cain's being rejected. According to Genesis 4, Abel offered the fat sections of his flock's firstborn while Cain gave some of the crops of his farm. In those days, people thought that the firstborn and the fat portions were the best. While Abel's offering was accepted, Cain's was not accepted. Cain only desired the best for himself.

In the same manner, many of the church's offerings and our donations to Christian charities are made in the same manner. People’s hearts today are not saying, “Lord in heaven, you gave your best and you are the best and you are worth more than I can offer to you.” David said in II Samuel 24:24: “I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

If we look at our giving, we must ask ourselves, “Is our giving sacrificial?” “Are we giving like Cain and offering to the Lord a portion of the fruit of our lives?” When I think of that I think about a person on the street corner and how we only give her/him some pocket change instead of paper money.

Our giving to our church and Christian charitable organizations is much like Cain’s giving. We give from our dispensable income rather than our wealth.

God expects our best. Our giving must be sacrificial like Abel’s gifts to the Lord.