January 29, 2009 Luke 21:1-4

True Giving
As Jesus looked up, he saw some rich people putting their gifts into the Temple money box. Then he saw a poor widow putting two small copper coins into the box. He said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow gave more than all those rich people. They gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had to live on." ~Luke 21:1-4~

This passage is really important. It's about a poor widow lady who knows how to give to God. She might have not given as much as the rich people, but the heart that she gave with the money she did was so much bigger and worth much more than the hearts that the rich people gave. It's really not about the amount of money that we give, but the heart that we give. We need to give wholeheartedly. God gave us everything He has, even His one and only Son. No matter how much we give, if we don't give Him all our hearts, we're not giving Him anything. Honestly, everything we have/own is not really ours. It's just in our possession as the moment, but it's all God's, so we can't give something that's not ours...especially back to its rightful owner. That is why the heart counts. If we're giving with a heart that says...oh...that's enough, the rest I need to buy those shoes...that's the wrong attitude.

That doesn't mean that we need to give God everything that we have. It just means that although we're tithing only 10%, or only giving a dollar during offering...it's the heart that counts, not the amount. So ask God for a giving heart, so that we can acknowledge Him as more precious than silver or gold...as most worthy of all our praise. We should say to ourselves, "I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing!"