Paid in Full

My daily Bible reading selection a couple of days ago was in Genesis 23:1, the account of the death of Sarah, Abraham's wife.  Since under God's direction, they had come to the land of Canaan, they were strangers there, and Abraham had to obtain a burial place for Sarah.  The Bible says he desired to buy the cave of Macpelah, at the end of a field.  The owner of the property, evidently knowing something of Abraham's status, offered to give him the field and the cave, free of charge.

Abraham was insistent that he pay for the property, and finally, the owner sold it to him at the full price. Verse 17 says, "And the field of Ephron, which is in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was was therein, and the trees that were in the field...were made sure unto Abraham for a possession..."

Yesterday's Bible reading portion says that when Abraham died at 175 years old, his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him beside his wife Sarah in the cave at Machpelah.

Last week, when Howard was asked to serve at the graveside services of his friend, we had to go far into the Osage countryside to the cemetery.  We had no idea how to get there, so we rode with friends for the 45 minute backroads-finally-unpaved trek into unfamiliar territory.  The small cemetery was surrounded by fields, pastures and herds of cattle.   They had purchased the lots and double headstones back in the eighties, perhaps when they lived in that area.

It reminded me of when we lived in Mississippi, next to a stately church with a cemetery that extended past our property behind our backyard.  The little boy who was the son of the music minister next door called it "the garden," partly, I guess because of all the beautiful bouquets left from funerals.  We took walks along its meandering paths and our kids played over there sometimes, even flying their kites in the vacant field of the cemetery.

Sometimes questions arose from the children, such as the time our little boy asked about a double headstone with one side completed with a husband's information, but the other with just the name of the wife, who was still living.  He was also curious about the built-in flower vases. One day the six-year-old rushed in and questioned breathlessly, "Mom, when is Dad gonna die?"  When he saw my shocked look, he brought a bedraggled bouquet from behind his back and said, " 'cause I picked some flowers for his grave!" 

When King David desired to buy a threshing floor on which to sacrifice to God to reverse a plague, Araunah the Jebusite offered to give it to the king, including animals for the sacrifice and wooden threshing instruments and equipment for the fire.  David replied, "Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing," II Samuel 24:24.

A sacrifice is not a sacrifice unless it costs something.  We live for God instead of for ourselves by denying ourselves to follow Christ.  Paul says in Romans 12:1, " I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

Our name may be on a headstone someday, but in the light of our heavenly reward, any sacrifice we've made to serve the Lord on earth will seem like no sacrifice at all.