Milk Money, Mr. K, and Jesus
My first act of sacrifice involved bottles of Mr. K aftershave and cologne. As a little girl, I didn’t understand the big concept of sacrifice. But mesmerized with Mr. K’s packaging, complete with silver-crowned tops, I determined to gift my father these glorious creations.
While I didn’t have enough money for Mr. K, my treasure included milk and ice cream money, as well as weekly allowance. My plan meant, for a little while, I would go without lunch milk and would not enjoy my favored Nutty Butty ice cream sticks, Fudgsicles, or Creamsicles. Going without and watching my friends line up for ice cream brought sudden clarity to sacrificial giving.
Soon my father possessed Mr. K’s beautiful crowns, and I returned to the lunchroom’s ice cream counter. Decades passed and my father treasured these now empty bottles throughout the years. Recently he shared how much he cherished the gift because he recognized sacrifice in giving.
Passing years soon presented numerous opportunities for sacrificial giving, and I developed deeper understandings of the sacrifices Jesus made to die on the cross. Yet as much as my finite brain comprehends the incomprehensible, I struggle to understand what I can give God in return.
There’s a song we sing in church, which similarly wrestles with this concept of returning good enough giving. It’s a favored song, and the writers draw a beautiful conclusion in the chorus:
And I know it's not much
But I've nothing else fit for a King
Except for a heart singing hallelujah.-Gratitude (Songwriters: Benjamin William Hastings/Michael Brandon Lake/Dante Bowe)
Exquisite words representing our limited ability to express gratitude to Christ who gave it all. And yet while we might not have anything we consider worthy for sacrifice, we are given examples of what God considers pleasing.
Beginning in the Old Testament, David offered his morning prayers as a sacrifice. (Psalm 5:3) He also asked for his prayers to come before God as incense and the lifting of his hands to be as the evening sacrifice. (Psalm 141:2) While David lived in times of common animal sacrifice, he yearned to give even more to his God, who sheltered and saved.
David couldn’t have known how similar the concept of offering his prayers as sacrifice, for a pleasing aroma to God, compared to the sacrificial death of Christ “who gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:2 (ESV)
David offered what he had. We give what we can. What might seem little is big and is viewed on internal conditions of love and gratitude instead of external circumstances of wealth and status. As we express the sacrifice of praise to God (Hebrews 13:15), we begin to understand life involves the duality of sacrificial prayer and action.
Jesus taught us how to sacrificially give. It involves denying ourselves of something for someone and extending ourselves with love for others. We start as young children sacrificing ice cream and progress into understanding how “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1 (ESV)
When we present our entire self to God, we give and give up. Through our chronological age or spiritual maturity, sacrifice remains a concept grounded in love. Loving God and loving others, more than self, changes hearts and bends knees.
My father looked beyond the sparkle of Mr. K’s crowns and saw his daughter’s heart filled with love. How much more does our heavenly Father search our hearts and accept our sincere gifts of prayer, praise, and acts of love?
In Hebrews, we’re told we only have a little while before Christ returns. It’s time to collect our milk money and express love to God and others. We might believe what we have to offer is not worthy, but it’s enough, and will be considered pleasing to our King, when given in love.
