Offerings That Will Get You Killed

Nadab and Abihu were two priests of God who had specific instructions about lighting incense and offering it to God.

Lev.10:1-2, states that they lit their incense with unauthorized fire and God killed them both with his own fire.

We don’t know their motivations or why they did what they did and I guess it really doesn’t matter. The thing that does matter is you have to follow God’s instructions and they didn’t.

Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of land and brought the proceeds to the Apostles to be distributed to help the poor (Acts 5). The only thing was they fibbed about it. They claimed they were giving all of the proceeds but held back some of it. Like Nadab and Abihu God struck them both dead.

I suppose you could say that Ananias and Sapphira were guilty of the love of money and that love of money led them to tell a lie. I guess the only thing they loved more than money was their love of themselves… they wanted to look good.

God still gives specific instructions about what he wants from us. For one thing he wants us to be “cheerful” in our giving. He wants us to know that everything we have comes from him so that when the time comes to give a little bit of it back to him on a Sunday it’s an easy thing for us to do.

God doesn’t want us to give any kind of an offering in a public way because that kind of display feeds egos… humble people don’t do that.

So just what all does God want from us? That’s an easy one… he wants us. He expects us to live lives worthy of being his sons and daughters and if we’re not living like that then… well… he doesn’t really care what we put in the offering plate. Just ask Nadab, Abihu, Ananias and Sapphira if what you offer matters.