My Turtledoves are DEAD

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It is now eight days after Christmas and my turtle doves are dead!  Just kidding. I never had any turtle doves. But I know of someone who did, and they killed them.  Morbid, I know. But listen to the story as to why these turtle doves were killed and the impact it has on our lives.

Eight days after Christmas, the New Year has been celebrated and the decorations are back in their boxes awaiting another Christmas celebration in the New Year of 2021. The world is joining hearts for the ending of the pandemic as we place our hopes in the vaccine.  In the meantime, we continue to wear our masks and quarantine as much as possible.  Our eight days after Christmas 2020 look like our eight months prior.

In the little town of Bethlehem over 2000 years ago, do you know what Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus were doing on day 8? According to the Mosaic law, it was circumcision day for Jesus. This was a ceremonial custom for every Jewish boy. So, while still in the town of Bethlehem, they followed the Jewish law and circumcised Him.  Not the greatest of days for baby Jesus!

As time continued, on day 40, they took a short trip to the city of Jerusalem.  According to the law of Moses, a woman who had given birth to a male had to wait 40 days until her body was considered purified or cleansed. Until then, she could not enter the temple.  Once that 40 days had passed, Mary, Joseph and the baby traveled 6 miles to Jerusalem to offer their sacrifice and to consecrate their son before God.

“So, they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord –

‘either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” Luke 2:24

Two turtle doves…sound familiar?

There is tremendous significance to their sacrifice of two turtle doves!

Two turtle doves are a pauper’s sacrifice. To gather the coins needed to purchase this sacrifice was not an easy task for Mary and Joseph. They had to reach deep into their pockets pulling out every coin they had. As they pulled out each coin, they hoped they had enough to purchase the two turtle doves to honor the God that they loved. Their heart’s desire may have been to bring the best lamb to tell God how grateful they were for the blessing of this child. But a pauper’s sacrifice is all they had.

When my boys were young, there was a question that I would often ask them after competing in a sporting event or drama production or taking a test at school.  The question was, “Did you do your best?”  They were frustrated because their performance may not have gone as well as they had hoped.  Seeing their disappointment, I would ask them that question…

” Did you do your best?”

“Yes mom, I really feel as though I did.”

“Then son, that is all that you can do.”

Mary and Joseph “did their best” in the sacrifice that they offered to God that day.

Their desire may have been for more, but they offered their best.

In Mark 12:41-44, we are told a story about The Widows Offering or the Widow’s Mite –

“Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts.

Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions.  For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44

God has asked us to bring our lives as a sacrifice to Him (Romans 12:1). But we so often feel as though what we must bring Him isn’t good enough.  It is a pauper’s sacrifice…a widow’s mite! Unfortunately, we then choose not to bring anything to Him. We hold onto our “two turtledoves” or our “two small coins” in fear that it isn’t enough. We reason within ourselves that if I can’t give more, then I won’t give any.

But God says,

“GIVE ALL.

 Reach deep into your pocket and pull out whatever you have.

 Let Me hold it and mold it into more.

All that I ask is that you are faithful in what you give.”

One of the scariest sacrifices that I made to God was in writing and publishing this blog.  I battled for a long time with fears and feelings of inadequacies in my ability to write. I felt as though what I had to offer wasn’t good enough.  I would reason within myself that no one wanted to read or hear what I have to say. So, I held these stories written in the pages of my notebooks for no one to see.  These writings are my “two turtle doves” …my “two small coins.” They are my pauper’s sacrifice. I eventually asked myself the question that when I die,

Would I be pleased that I had held onto these writings?

Would I feel as though I had been obedient to God in my sacrifice?

The answer was a clear NO!

The fear that what I had to offer wasn’t good enough paralyzed me.

Then one day it hit me…what do I have to lose?  What am I afraid of? My fears were wrapped around the people who surrounded me and their opinions instead of releasing myself to God.  When I focused on the face of God rather than those around me, I realized that what I had to offer to God was enough because what I had to offer Him was my best.

Sacrifices we offer to God are not about us!

Sacrifices we offer are all about HIM!

If Mary and Joseph would have held onto their turtledoves or the widow held onto her two small coins, they would have missed the opportunity to connect with God in their obedience!

We are heading into a New Year which is laced with new resolutions that we make in hopes to accomplish what we haven’t accomplished up to this point.  Some of those resolutions are realistic and some are outside our realm of possibilities.  In this attempt to do something new in our lives, God asks us to look to Him for what He wants to do in our lives.  He is asking us to give Him ALL even if it is just a “pauper’s sacrifice”.

When we sell ourselves short of what God can and wants to do in our lives, we sell God short in His creation of us. 

Someday we will meet our Creator and He may ask us the question,

“Did you do your best?”

“Did you give everything that you had in this world to make a kingdom difference?”

How will you answer that question?