Giving Our Best or the Bare Minimum?

Giving Our Best or the Bare Minimum?

I’m doing a study right now, and one of the main questions I’ve heard and been thinking about a lot is:

Are we giving our best or the bare minimum, calling it good, and expecting God to bless us?

Are we doing what we’re doing to truly serve the Lord, or are we just checking that box?

In Malachi, we can read exactly how the Israelites were doing just that—checking that box. In this passage it’s more about honor and not just effort.

Malachi 1:6-9 - The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name!

“But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’

“You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar.

“Then you ask, ‘How have we defiled the sacrifices?’

“You defile them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

“Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

They didn’t see a problem with how they were doing things because they were checking that box of offering sacrifices as they were “supposed” to. They were also more concerned with pleasing people than honoring God.

Isn’t this interesting?

They had become complacent and were just going about life, doing the bare minimum for God.

We can find ourselves doing the same thing.

I was thinking about this and holding myself up to this question.

You know what I found?

I am giving the bare minimum in certain areas of my life.

Sometimes I hyperfocus on things, and I do really well at those things, but then other things suffer or get just enough.

My family is something I always give a lot to. Those relationships are important to me. But other areas of my life can suffer or get the bare minimum.

Think about your walk with the Lord. Is He getting your best, or is He getting the castoffs, the leftovers, the bare minimum?

In my relationship with God, I feel like I’m giving my best. I mean, I work in ministry, I read my Bible all the time, and I’m always praying.

Then I sit and really think about it and realize how sometimes I’m on autopilot.

That’s crazy, right?

I’m doing all the “right” things, but am I really giving Him my best?

Where’s my heart in all of it? Where’s my intention?

Am I listening or just hearing?

Am I seeking or just reading?

Am I praying and then waiting, or am I just walking away?

What in my life am I really offering?

In Hebrews 11:17–19, we read about Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac.

“It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, ‘Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.’ Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.”

Abraham was willing to fully give to God everything he had. His son, the one that God said would come many nations. Abraham was willing to give God everything, even his son—the very one through whom God had promised his descendants would come.

But Abraham trusted God.

It was as though he was saying, “God, I know what You said about many nations, and now You want me to do this? Okay. I trust You. I will give You my all and obey.”

Would this be you?

Would you, without a doubt, give all you have to God, even something He had promised to use?

I think I might hold tightly to some things.

But here’s the thing—it’s all God's anyway, so why am I holding on so tightly?

Control. That’s why.

There’s this unknown factor that freaks us all out.

I know I can pray, “God, I give this all to You, and I will wait to hear from You.”

Then, about 5.2 seconds later, I find myself holding on to it again, even trying to figure out a solution.

So, over and over again, and sometimes out loud, I have to say to myself, “No, I gave it to God. I will wait and see what He has.”

This has been good for me because it has helped me stop doing things as I see fit and instead seek what the Lord wants me to do.

When we really examine ourselves and then allow the Lord to examine and correct us, we will begin to find the answer to the question I started with.

Are we giving our best or the bare minimum, calling it good, and expecting God to bless us?

There are many things I am looking at right now that need to change, all the way down to tangible things I am holding on to.

I would rather have nothing than hold on to things I know I should give up.

Giving God our best doesn't necessarily mean doing more things. Sometimes it means surrendering more of ourselves. And I would rather surrender all I have and truly give my ALL to God than hold back and give the bare minimum.

This is all part of the journey of walking with the Lord.

We come to Him seeking salvation, and He welcomes us. But our walk with Him doesn't stop there. There are steps of obedience that follow.

We are called to leave behind our old ways and walk with the Lord.

David says openly in Psalm 26:2: – “Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me.

Test my motives and my heart.”

What would come up in this cross-examination?

That’s what I’m trying to figure out.

I long for my motives and my heart to always be pleasing to the Lord, and I’m sure you do as well.

So, join me in asking ourselves the hard questions, seeking the Lord, drawing closer to Him, and living a life that is fuller and more willing to surrender.

Let’s drop the bare minimum and truly, wholeheartedly give our ALL to God.