HOW GOD MEASURES OUR GIVING
“Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.”
Mark 12:43.
President John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” In the spiritual realm we might say to every Christian: “Ask not what God can give to you, but what you can give to God.”
I. How man measures giving:
The world’s measure is “bigger is better” but the Lord does not necessarily see it that way. An individual Christian, on the other hand, may determine his giving by figuring how little he can give to God and not totally offend his conscience in the process.
II. How God measures man’s giving:
Not what we give as much as how much we have left after we have given: “They gave out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty, gave all that she had…” Mark 12:44.
Notice that the Lord did not criticize or demean those who gave the larger gifts but He wanted His disciples to know that He valued the gift by what the giver retained after the gift was given.
III. Examples of giving on the highest level:
What God gave: “God gave His only begotten Son….”
What Jesus gave: His life. Jesus said: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you.” John 15:13.
What the Christian is to give: In Romans 12:1 Paul writes: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
IV. The widow gave all she had…far more that the Law required…
…but she left the Temple with far more than she had when she entered. She left with the commendation of her Lord; the smile of God on her life; and the promise that “the windows of heaven will open and I will pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10.
