All She Had
Day 112: Luke 21:1-28
"For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” - Luke 21:4 ESV
Have you ever wondered what kind of generosity impresses God? I think when we are younger, it is something we dismiss as irrelevant. We say things like, "I only make 72 dollars a week. Can my $7.20 really make a difference to the church?"
Jesus shows us that it isn't about the amount we can drop into a plate or donate online.
Psalm 24:1 sings that the "earth is the Lord's, and all it contains." So, when we give, we aren't handing God something that He doesn't already own. This woman wasn't giving to please, pacify, or manipulate God; she gave as an act of surrendering worship.
The challenge for us today isn't to focus on the number we're giving but to instead take a long look at our hearts as we give. The percentage usually tells the story. Have you decided what percentage you believe God wants you to give to your local Church and other faithful Christian nonprofits?
The Apostle Paul saw this as vital to the act of generosity: "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." - 2 Corinthians 9:7 NIV
I dare say that some of the happiest people I know are the most generous. Money doesn't control them. They would much rather worship the One who owns it all.
"The mite (λεπτόν) was the smallest current coin. Two of these little pieces were the smallest legal offerings which could be dropped into the 'trumpet.' But this sum, as the Heart-reader, who knew all things, tells us (ver. 4), was every particle of money she had in the world; and it was this splendid generosity on the part of the poor solitary widow which won the Lord’s praise, which has touched the hearts of so many generations since, which has stirred up in so many hearts an admiration of an act so strangely beautiful, but well-nigh inimitable." - Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. (1909). St. Luke (Vol. 2, pp. 182–183)