No alpine plant has achieved so much fame as the six-inch high Edelweiss. Its pale yellow cluster of flowers and star-formed white wooley leaves have not only attracted the delighted attention of alpine tourists and climbers, but have also become the subject of legend and song.
But it is the wild variety that is prized, not the cultivated rockery plant. Its wooly texture enables it to thrive in the most exposed situations; it seems to flourish best in almost inaccessible places on the craggy heights of the Alps. To reach it is an achievement. One sprig of Edelweiss represents many hours of battle with the rocky faces of the mountains, and risk of life and limb.
To please his sweetheart, a Swiss lover will brave this climb and bring a posy of Edelweiss - token of his daring and skill. This is more than a flower to the blushing maiden, it is an offering of buoyant manhood, of agile devotion, of sacrificial love.
A present of cultivated Edelweiss would be an insult: this is an act of adoration.
In our offerings to God it is not what our gifts are worth that makes them precious to Him, it is what they cost us. "two cents" in the collection box would not thrill a church treasurer, but it thrills Jesus. It represented the sum of a widows resourses: no one can give more that 100%. David said: "Niether will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God that cost me nothing."
Giving does not depend upon what we have, it depends upon how we hold it. A true gift is a thing of the heart and not an object; its value lies more in the affection that it represents than the intrinsic value it possesses. And yet it is amazing how rich can be the gifts of the poor. Of the Macedonian churches Paul could say; "from the depths of their poverty they have shown themselves lavishly open handed" (2Cor8:2) It appears that poverty is no impediment to liberality.
How much real sacrifice characterises our service to God. You tithe? This is considered a duty in the bible. Do you expect praise for giving what you owe? What of "tithes and offerings"? It is the extra that counts.
The principle of sacrifice is the basis of the atonement. "For ye know the grace of our LOrd Jesus Christ, that, thou he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich." Giving is at the heart of Salvation "God so loved the world that He gave".......It is the same spirit of holy liberality that will inspire us to give sacrificially, and so enable us to play our part in the great scheme of salvation by extending the Gospel so dearly bought for us.
But it is the wild variety that is prized, not the cultivated rockery plant. Its wooly texture enables it to thrive in the most exposed situations; it seems to flourish best in almost inaccessible places on the craggy heights of the Alps. To reach it is an achievement. One sprig of Edelweiss represents many hours of battle with the rocky faces of the mountains, and risk of life and limb.
To please his sweetheart, a Swiss lover will brave this climb and bring a posy of Edelweiss - token of his daring and skill. This is more than a flower to the blushing maiden, it is an offering of buoyant manhood, of agile devotion, of sacrificial love.
A present of cultivated Edelweiss would be an insult: this is an act of adoration.
In our offerings to God it is not what our gifts are worth that makes them precious to Him, it is what they cost us. "two cents" in the collection box would not thrill a church treasurer, but it thrills Jesus. It represented the sum of a widows resourses: no one can give more that 100%. David said: "Niether will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God that cost me nothing."
Giving does not depend upon what we have, it depends upon how we hold it. A true gift is a thing of the heart and not an object; its value lies more in the affection that it represents than the intrinsic value it possesses. And yet it is amazing how rich can be the gifts of the poor. Of the Macedonian churches Paul could say; "from the depths of their poverty they have shown themselves lavishly open handed" (2Cor8:2) It appears that poverty is no impediment to liberality.
How much real sacrifice characterises our service to God. You tithe? This is considered a duty in the bible. Do you expect praise for giving what you owe? What of "tithes and offerings"? It is the extra that counts.
The principle of sacrifice is the basis of the atonement. "For ye know the grace of our LOrd Jesus Christ, that, thou he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich." Giving is at the heart of Salvation "God so loved the world that He gave".......It is the same spirit of holy liberality that will inspire us to give sacrificially, and so enable us to play our part in the great scheme of salvation by extending the Gospel so dearly bought for us.
