The Cost of Worship

2 Samuel 24:22-25

     22     Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

     23     “Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.”

     24     However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

     25     David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.

David was unwilling to offer a sacrifice that cost him nothing. 

We know that, for us, salvation is free.  But, worship is not.

It costs us our focus on ourselves, and places all our attention on Christ; who He is; what He’s done; and what He’s going to do.

Romans 12:1 says-

“I urge you, therefore brethren, to present your bodies as living sacrifices; holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

We must be willing to place ourselves on the alter as a sacrifice before a holy and perfect Savior King who knows our hearts, and our motives; who us, and still accepts our praise.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift of grace through Jesus Christ… our rock; our redeemer; our fortress; our foundation.