Everyday Offering
Written by Nicole Longnecker
“Attention, Israel! God our God! God is the one and only!
Love God, your God, with your whole heart;
Love Him with all that’s in you.
Love Him with all you’ve got!
Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts.
Get them inside of you and get them inside your children.
Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking the street;
Talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder.
Inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 MSG
This text is known as the Shema. “Shema” is the word in Hebrew for “Listen”. Every good Jew knew this by heart and would repeat this prayer multiple times each day. Every day, whether life changing or ordinary, the cord of these words were drawing it all together, reminding them of what mattered.
Love God with all you’ve got.
This year I bought this fancy goal setting planner because I’m a terrible goal setter and I thought this pretty spiral bound book would transform me. I do have one goal that didn’t get buried and forgotten back on page 17 where I set my annual goals, before breaking them into quarterly and monthly and weekly goals and then promptly not doing any of them.
I want to get to know Jesus deep on the inside of me. I want everything I do and say and think to be colored in by my knowledge of Him. I want to see Him so clearly that I am transformed by His goodness. There is no goal better than nurturing connection with God.
Write these commandments on your heart.
Your mind is not naturally going to drift toward God kind of thinking. You and I have got to get God’s Words inside of us to rein in the three ring circus that has set up a crazy striped tent full of clowns and wild animals in our heads.
Me, I’m a 5:00 am, Bible, journal and a big cup of coffee kind of girl. I’ve got to sit down in the quiet before my people are up and ask God what He wants to say to me before the whole wide world gets all up in my business.
But I’ve had seasons when that wasn’t the case. Seasons when I left that Bible open on the counter in my kitchen and just tried to gulp down a word or two when I had a moment to think straight, or just a moment of any kind. (hello mothers of little humans, I see you.) Maybe your busy is of a different variety, and you need to listen to an audible version in the car on the way to work. It doesn’t need to look exactly like what you think it needs to look like. Just get some of God’s word inside of you, every single day.
Talk about them wherever you go
My small town post office lady got a little preview of this idea about meaning and what matters. Because I see her a couple days a week. And I had to mail something, so there’s that. She’s not always the most receptive person, (think just slightly nicer than your average postal employee) but she remembers my p.o. box number by heart, and I was excited about how good God is. I didn’t make it super awkward. I mean, I didn’t whip out my phone and make her read the whole blog post. I didn’t try to sound religious. I just tried to be honest.
Make your love for God and God’s word and what God is doing part of your regular conversation. In the car, my kids and I talk about big God stuff like how does Jesus save us and how can He possibly love us so much and does He really know all of our thoughts and silly stuff like why does a bunny have a fluffy tail and how many seats are on a Boeing 747. All of it is wonderful.
“Take your everyday, ordinary life- your sleeping, eating, going-to-work and walking-around life- and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.”
Romans 12:1 MSG
Your everyday life is your offering. Not your imaginary, beautiful, meaningful, someday life, but your actual making dinner, wondering what in the world is that spot on the bathroom counter, kid wrangling, clock punching, plant watering life. Offer that.
Every moment you spend inclining yourself toward God, who has recklessly committed Himself to you, is golden. It bears fruit for that moment and all the ones that follow. Every moment you take your actual life and hold it up before Him as an offering, is one moment you didn’t spend idolizing something or someone that will never satisfy. Every moment you look at His word to see Him there, and talk about His goodness, is one moment you aren’t fixated on the bad news all around.
So take the small step. Take this moment right here, right now, and love the Lord your God. Pay attention to His movements in your life and in your heart. Take one phrase from His word and roll it around in your thoughts today. Give Him the moments when you’re driving in the car or waiting in line at the pharmacy. Talk about Him with your kids, your spouse, your roommate or your favorite postal service employee.
Life with Him is the only life.
So live and love with all you’ve got. You won’t regret it.
Call to Action:
“Attention, Israel! God our God! God is the one and only!
Love God, your God, with your whole heart;
Love Him with all that’s in you.
Love Him with all you’ve got!
Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts.
Get them inside of you and get them inside your children.
Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking the street;
Talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder.
Inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 MSG
“Take your everyday, ordinary life- your sleeping, eating, going-to-work and walking-around life- and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
Romans 12:1-2 MSG
“Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”
Ephesians 5:1-2 CSB
“But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ- the righteousness from God based on faith. My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.”
Philippians 2:7-11 CSB
Reflection Questions:
What are one or two things in my life right now that hinder me from making Christ my priority?
Am I spending time in God’s word on a daily basis and letting it change my thinking? If not, what can I do to create space for it?
Who can I talk with about my relationship with God this week? Who can I share His goodness with?
Holy Spirit, I bring the offering of my everyday life to You. Help me to remember that You are at work in every moment, and to welcome You there.
