This year, our theme is ‘Let us rise and build together.’ It’s not just about building Bethel hall, we must also realize that through this process God wants to build us, and make us into His dwelling place. Building requires materials, and these materials are you and me. For instance, the construction of the hall requires real financial contributions, but God cares more about whether we are living lives of offering toward Him. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matt. 6:24) All this we do because God cares about our lives and our relationship with Him.

There are two key words concerning offering: one is ‘faith,’ and the other is ‘love.’ Our offerings are always for God and toward God. Only through faith can we truly see that He is God, and He deserves our best offerings. Offering is indeed our path to His blessings. Our offerings in God’s hand will not only bless others but also build up ourselves. Luke 6:38 says, “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.” Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. ”

God lacks nothing; the cattle on a thousand hills and the sheep on ten thousand mountains are His. However, failure in offering leads to lacking in blessings. It’s not that God punishes us in this way; we must understand that God’s intentions are always good and positive. He takes in order to give, and He tears down in order to build up. What God asks from us is what we do not have, yet it is precisely what He wants to give us so that we can give.

In addition, offering is out of love. We give because we love, and the greatest giver is God Himself. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor. 8:9) “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32) Because God loves us so much we make our offerings of love to Him in response. Because of love, no one would hesitate to give good things to his loved ones. Compelled by love, let us seize every opportunity to offer ourselves to what God cares about.

Even though our offerings are nothing before the Creator of heaven and earth, yet God is pleased and satisfied by them. Only man can satisfy God - what great news this is! No matter what others may say or how reluctant we may feel, we regard no price as too high for the Lord. Moreover, from the perspective of sovereignty, we are merely stewards of the grace God has given us. When Job lost all his possessions and children in one day, he said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”(Job 1:21b) May we be faithful stewards worthy of our Lord’s commendation on that day.

Following the Lord inevitably requires cost, and growth will be painful. But when we give to God in love, we can do it willingly and wholeheartedly. It may hurt when we give wholeheartedly because our traditional patterns and views on money are being broken by God. However, when we turn our eyes and remember that these are for God and toward God, the pain in our hearts dissipates, and we can willingly say: O Lord, this really is nothing. You gave Yourself to me, I ought to give You my life and all!

May each of us ponder the Lord’s heart and grace, and respond to this question: “For you, I have given My life; for Me, what will you give?”