The notation in the Sabbath morning church bulletin simply says, “Offering.” The elder on the platform stands, shares the specific financial focus for that particular Sabbath, has a prayer, and as the music plays, the deacons move through the congregation to receive the morning offering.
As this typical scene is repeated every Sabbath in thousands of Seventh-day Adventist churches worldwide, it is easy to take it all for granted. But we must always remember that our giving is not just to keep the heaters warming and the lights shining. As we participate in something so seemingly simple as the giving of an offering, we must remember that we are actually entering into the highest activity known to man, and that activity is the worshipping of God.
In a very real sense, our involvement in the offering is a powerful act of worship. It is just as important as singing the hymns or listening to the sermon.
We give our gifts to God, not out of a sense of obligation, and not out of a realization that God is in desperate need of our gifts, but because our gifts to God are an expression of our love and gratitude to God for having, through his Son Jesus Christ, called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
When we give to God on Sabbath morning it’s all of God’s children coming together and acknowledging, as in the Lord’s Prayer, that our God has given us our daily bread, that He’s forgiven our sins, and that He’s delivered us from temptation, and all kinds of evil. And it is a privilege to give back to Him from hearts overflowing with thanksgiving.
The byproduct of our gift of worship is that as we give God will open the windows of heaven, and we will receive blessings beyond imagination. The blessing we receive may be a material blessing, but in actuality, the true blessing that we are assured of, is the spiritual blessing of drawing closer to our great God.
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