If you offer an animal from the flock as a fellowship offering to the LORD, you are to offer a male or female without defect. – Leviticus 3:6

Today's Scripture Reading (October 31, 2021): Leviticus 3

One phrase that has always frustrated me was that something was "good enough for the church." I have heard the phrase applied to donations, but also to the tasks that we volunteer to do for the church. Maybe it is an attempt to clean something that is "good enough for the church," Or a performance that we haven't practiced as much as we should have, but it is "good enough for the church." I had an associate pastor years ago that just about lost her mind whenever she heard the phrase.

But the reality is that churches are often the recipients of items that no one else wants. Sometimes, these items are given in hopes of getting a tax receipt, but more often, things are donated to a church that the owner simply doesn't want and no one else wants either. Sometimes furniture is left by or in our dumpster just because it is a cheaper alternative to disposing of the furniture at the local landfill or eco-center. Churches all across the nation have become the dumping grounds for everything that our society no longer wants.

Maybe none of this is new, and that has always been the temptation of living in this world. Take, for example, the fellowship offering. It was not a commanded offering. The worshipper didn't have to bring the offering at a particular time of year or in response to specific events. Instead, it was an offering brought to the Temple because the worshipper wanted to bring it. It is an offering designed to be brought out of the overflowing joy of our hearts and lives.

But just because the fellowship offering was voluntary does not mean that we can give the worst of what we possess. Animals born with conditions that made them less valuable were not to be brought to the Temple. The Temple was not the place to get rid of all of the things you didn't want. It was not to be a replacement for the local dump. Every animal brought to the Temple had to be without defect and the best that the person had to offer.

Churches should still be the places where we bring our best. Yes, we are volunteering our time and efforts. No one is forcing us to give what it is that we donate. But the recipient of everything that we bring is the God who has given us everything we have. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17). He voluntarily has given us everything good in our lives, so why would we bring him anything less.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Leviticus 4