October 8, 2017

GIVING BY CHOICE

Luke 21:1-4

And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”

Personal challenge

Giving to the church has sometimes been a reason that some people have given to me as to why they did not go to a church. The claim was that all the church did was ask for money. That is a funny excuse because that has not been my experience. And how is that any different than every single advertisement that we are bombarded with throughout our day. Granted, the church needs the giving from its membership in order to function in the world. But in most cases, the church desires our giving to be our choice. There is no required amount, like membership dues. Most importantly, what God desires is that we give with the right condition of our heart. We give out of our love for our God and a desire to give back a portion of that which He has blessed us with so that others can be blessed. The amount does not matter, but the intent does. The widow in this story pointed out by Jesus only gave a very small amount, maybe a penny or two, but Jesus indicated that she gave more than all of the wealthy contributors who gave large amounts. Why? Because she gave an abundance out of her pittance rather than a pittance out of her abundance She gave because she loved her God and not the attention that people would pay about her giving. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Land, have mercy!