Little is Much

Right before Jesus begins to tell His disciples what will happen in the last days, and right before the events leading up to the cross, He tells a story about a widow.

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Once upon a time, there was a widow that lived during Jesus' day.
The Bible doesn't say more than a few verses about her,
but her actions have forever left an imprint upon my all too often hardened heart.

The scene sets up like this:
Jesus was sitting in the temple...
He was watching.
Think about that for a second!
Jesus was sitting in the temple, watching PEOPLE.
He was watching people He had created Himself.
This boggles my mind.
Anyways, Jesus was watching.
He happened to notice the rich people giving their gifts.
Their tithes as it were.
How did He know they were rich?
He's God obviously, so He just knew.
But I think that something about these people stuck out to Him.
Maybe it was they way they carried themselves.
Perhaps they were arrogant.
Perhaps they were dressed really nicely.
But I bet the thing that really gave them away was something simple.
They were LOUD people.
When they gave, they clanked their coins loudly into the jar.
It was almost like they were saying "Look at me! Look at how much I am giving!"
We soon find out what Jesus thinks of this kind of giving.
But first, we meet the main character here other than Jesus.
Jesus sees an old widow.
She puts in two small copper coins, which was about a days wages.
Much could be said about this, and I won't really get into it - but perhaps she did this every day. Perhaps she gave her days wages to Jesus everyday, but it doesn't say that.
Anyways, she puts in two coins.
The average person watching this situation unfold would hardly notice, or they would say "the rich are very important because they give so much! but the widow hardly gave any."
This isn't how Jesus sees things though.
He makes a shocking statement by saying that they widow gave MORE than ALL the rich!
Not in terms of a dollar amount, but He says she gave out of her poverty and the rich gave out of their abundance.
What does this mean?
Well, let's break it down.
If you have $1,000, and give $10, how much do you have left? $990 right?
Well, if you have $10, and you give $10, how much do you have left? ZERO.
That's right.
We are getting closer to fully understanding this concept.
When He says she gave out of her poverty, it seems that He is really speaking to how much she had left. She had NONE left. She had nothing else to give her Master...and because of this, Jesus was very pleased.
The rich still had TONS left.
This goes back to the heart of Jesus' call: Leave everything and follow Me. He who does not forsake father, and mother, and brother, and everything He has CANNOT be my disciple.
this is what Jesus says! These are hard words!
The rich give a lot in human terms, and they think they are doing the best thing since the invention of sliced bread.
The poor widow gives everything, and probably thinks: "what else can I give? I've given everything else away."
This attitude brings the praise of Jesus.
But the attitude that hoards for our own desires is not pleasing to Jesus.

This is a life principle: Jesus wants everything, He wants our best, He wants us to give everything we have. It can be just a little, but as long as we give Him everything, He is satisfied...that's all He asks for: everything.


I heard a story about a missionary that was laying on His death bed.
His children had come to be with him in his last days.
With tears of peace in his eyes he said to his kids: "I wish I had something to leave you after I go home to be with God. But I gave everything to Jesus long ago."
There is a man who understands the principle of storing up treasures in heaven and giving all of our earthly possessions, talents, and efforts away.

May people look at us and see JESUS!

May we be the kind of people to whom Jesus says: "he gave more than everyone else...he gave out of his poverty...he gave everything he had to live on."
Luke 21:1-4