“But King David said to Ornan, ‘No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.’” (1 Chronicles 21:24 ESV).
After David sinned by taking a census, God sent judgment upon Israel. When the angel of the Lord reached Jerusalem, God told David to build an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Ornan offered the site and the materials for free, but David refused. He said he would pay the full price because he would not offer to the Lord what cost him nothing. David understood that true worship must come at personal cost. Remarkably, the site he purchased became the very place where Solomon would later build the temple (2 Chron. 3:1). A place of judgment became a permanent place of worship.
David’s words confront our hearts today: Are we offering God our leftovers, or our best? We live in a world that prizes convenience, but true worship requires personal sacrifice. The apostle Paul echoed this truth when he urged us to “present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1). That phrase can also be translated “reasonable worship.” In other words, giving our whole selves to God is not radical or extreme—it’s the logical response to His mercy. Worship is not merely emotional or ceremonial; it’s thoughtful, all-of-life devotion that flows from understanding the gospel.
David’s costly altar foreshadows the greater sacrifice of Christ, who paid the full price for our sin with His own blood. He held nothing back. In response to His mercy, how could we offer anything less than our whole selves? Let us not give to God what costs us nothing. Let us offer our lives—our time, our talents, our treasure—as a daily act of true worship.
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for the example of David and the even greater example of Jesus. You gave everything for us. Forgive us when we hold back. Help us, by Your mercy, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices—holy and pleasing to You. We want our worship to cost us something, because You are worthy of our best and our all. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.