Love God. Love People. Give God your best. Today we are talking about the final idea-Give God your best. Do you ever think about what giving your best means? There are slogans like ‘Give All You’ve Got’, or ‘Be All You Can Be’.  We use #livingmybestlife to tag photos or social media posts. As parents, we tell our kids “do your best”. We say things like “the best is yet to come” and “I gave it my best shot”. Products are even rated good, better and best. 

Do we even understand what “best” means? When we think about giving our best, what does that look like? How can we give our best when don’t understand the meaning? Has the overuse of this word watered down our understanding? Giving my best to something or someone that means there is nothing better I have to give or offer, an effort or gift that far outranks anything else. 

The Bible has much to say about giving God the best, going all the way back to Genesis 4, when Abel offered “some of his firstborn from his flock” as a sacrifice to God. Cain chose differently, got angry and as we all know ended up killing his brother. Proverbs 3:9-10 reminds us to honor God with our possessions by giving Him our first fruits. Examples are woven all throughout scripture. The best example of giving their best is Jesus. He gave all He had including His life. He did so, not for Himself or because it was going to earn Him privilege or status or wealth. No, He gave His best out of obedience and sacrifice. Obedience to His Father and because He knew He was the only One who could adequately fulfill the necessary sacrifice for our sin. 

I’d like to tell you a story that will hopefully do a better job explaining what giving God our best might look like…….

Once upon a time, there was a young wife and mother who seemed to have everything going for her. She had a husband, two daughters, a new home, good friends and a great job. This young lady was a Christian who attended church on a regular basis, even volunteering in children’s ministry. She worked hard to provide for and care for her family. Her career evidenced the hard work with numerous promotions and increasing responsibilities. 

One day however, she was confronted with a question – “What or who is receiving your best?. Your family, your job, your church, God?” The questions asked by a pastor, stemmed from a book of the Bible that she had never read despite growing up in church. Intrigued, she leaned in and listened closely as the Bible teacher took her through the Old Testament book of Malachi . 

Malachi was a prophet and his book is actually the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi was given a message from God for the people of Israel. In this message, God calls out His people for not giving their best to Him. It seemed as though the people of Israel were offering sacrifices as the law commanded, but those sacrifices were basically leftovers and unusable, consisting of sick and lame animals. In Chapter 1, verse 8 God says “Come on people, you wouldn’t give this gift to your government, so why do you think it’s ok to give it to me? I am God, far greater than any government official.” (my paraphrase). The message continues to say unless you get this figured out and start doing better there are going to be some serious consequences. Check out what Malachi 2:1-3 says ““Therefore, this decree is for you priests: If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heart to honor my name,” says the Lord of Armies, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart. “Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it.” WOW!

But perhaps the words that convicted this young lady the most came in Malachi 2:17 which says “you have wearied the Lord with your words”. Hearing these words “you have wearied the Lord” and this story immediately convicted and broke her heart, as she knew she was indeed guilty of doing the same things! God was plainly and bluntly calling her out, just like He had done with the people of Israel. She knew she had not been giving her best to God or her family, instead it was her career that was getting her best. The pastor brought it home with these words:

“If you need to quit your stupid job, to get right with God and give Him your best then quit your stupid job!” 

Tears flowed freely and seemingly without end. She knew without a single doubt what had to be done. She had to quit her stupid job. It made no sense, she wasn’t sure her husband would understand. She was sure her friends and co-workers wouldn’t, but she knew exactly what God was asking of her. Give Him her best, which meant walking away from worldly success, wealth and the American dream. 

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, the young woman in this story is me. I remember that day in late August, close to 20 years ago like it was yesterday. It was a day that changed the course of my life and that of my family forever. I remember struggling through the tears of conviction trying to explain to my husband why I couldn’t stop crying (I’m not a crier, so he knew something had happened). The choice to follow God’s call and quit my stupid job is one that I have not for even one second regretted. Yes, giving God my best required me to give up much of what our world values, much of what I had and many of us spend our entire lives working for. But what God provided and continues to provide me with is so much better! Has it always been easy-heck no! Have I struggled to remain faithful from time to time-yep! I could share so many stories of God’s provisions and blessings along this journey, not only financially, but deep deep friendships He has brought and amazing opportunities to share His love with others. But the sweetest of them all is my continual growing relationship with Jesus! And I am convinced this would not be if I had chosen differently that day. 

The point- go ahead, take the risk-give God your best. Whatever that means for you today. More than likely He is not asking you to quit your job. I firmly believe God speaks to each of us uniquely and will use different circumstances to convict and grow us. This just happens to be one of the many lessons He has used to teach me what it means to give Him my best. And, honestly it really is a daily decision each of us get to make. What will you give your best to today?

My best is going to look and be different than your best since we all possess different skills and abilities, so it’s not something that we can compare to what others bring or offer. My hope and prayer is that you will dive into God’s word, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you as clearly and intimately as He did for me.

If you need encouragement, prayer, or just a sounding board to help you process through God’s call on your life, what it might look like to give God your best, I am here and would love to sit down with you and listen to your story.