Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
--Luke 21:1-4
In times like this, it’s easy to want to hunker down and hold on to everything we have.
It’s especially hard for those who are out of work or those who’ve been forced to take a reduction in pay. I really do understand that it’s harder to give when there’s not as much there to give as there once was!
Yet at the same time, think about the poor widow in today’s passage who gave everything she had to give to God’s work. While her gift wasn’t worth much monetarily, it was worth much… it was sacred… because she sacrificed to give it.
In the same way, your gifts to the Lord’s work and my gifts to the Lord’s work are made sacred when they come from a sacrificial heart.
Yet how many of us really give this way? How many really make a sacrifice in some area of life, how many are willing to give up a comfort, so that we can contribute to God’s work? Far too few, I’m afraid.
That’s why today, my question is simple. When it comes to the church and God’s Kingdom work in the world today, are you a giver… or a taker?
And if you’d admit that maybe you tip the scale to the side of being more of a taker, what’s one way you could start giving more to God’s work today?
Maybe it’s as simple as getting your family on a budget so that you can be better stewards of the income God’s given you. Maybe it means cutting out cable television for a while. Maybe it means delaying that purchase, or going out to eat less so that you can give more to your church and God’s work around the world today.
I don’t know what your particular situation is, but I do know that as Christians living in America, we’ve grown accustomed to certain comforts and privileges.
I just wonder how many more lives could be reached if every Christian sacrificed one thing so that they could give more to God’s work?
WHEN IT COMES TO THE CHURCH AND GOD’S KINGDOM WORK IN THE WORLD TODAY, ARE YOU A GIVER… OR A TAKER?
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.”
Luke 8:51–53
Someone said there are two foundational facts of life: 1) there is a God, and 2) you are not Him. There is a lot of truth in those statements. Though we would not publicly declare that we know better than God and could arrange to make things work better than He is doing, in our hearts we sometimes think that is the case. When we do not understand how He is working, and then decide to go our own way instead, we are really falling prey to the temptation Satan first used in the Garden of Eden—that we would be happier if we chose for ourselves rather than following God. “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
The reason that the devil keeps using this same temptation is that it works so well. We do not like to acknowledge our failings and limitations. We like to think that we have the knowledge and wisdom to make good decisions apart from the guidance of the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Yet each time we go our own way in defiance of God, we place ourselves on the road to ruin. Jeremiah observed, “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). In humility and faith we need to yield our lives to the direction and control of the God who always knows best.
Today’s Growth Principle:
Faith in God rests on the acceptance that He is always right and what He says can be trusted.
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