Someone once pointed out that you can look at your breakfast of bacon and eggs to see a good example of the difference between commitment and sacrifice. The chicken was committed to providing for your breakfast. However, the pig was the one who made an actual sacrifice!

In our giving to the Lord, there is a difference between commitment and sacrifice. This is not to say that commitment is a bad thing. We need people who are committed to giving their tithes and offerings on a regular basis so that the gospel message can be spread and so that people who are underprivileged can be served in the name of Jesus.

However, there are times when sacrificial giving is needed. Sometimes we need to go beyond our normal offering in order to meet a sudden need that arises. It might be that we have to do without something in order to give on such a level. Some Christians have chosen to give up their family’s second car or to get rid of cable TV or forgo their family vacation in order to give to a worthy cause.

These are just a few examples of what it means to give sacrificially.

“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’”—Luke 21:1-4.