(KJV.) ST. MARK 12:42-44
(42) And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites which make a farthing.
(43) And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
(44) For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
THE HEART ISSUE!
Jesus went to the Synagogue, and sat down closer to the offering savings box, watched the offers putting their money into the temple savings box; many wealthy people threw in large amounts of money into the offering savings box; (42) And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites which make a farthing. Brethren, as wealthy people went to display their wealth in front of Jesus by putting in large amounts of money, a poor widow not ashamed of what Jesus will think of her also came by and put in two small coins that made up only few cents into the offering savings box; she was bold, trusted, faithful and obeyed the Father regardless of her lack situation; she was a poor widow, have a husband to depend on, and was lacking in all areas of her life but was faithful to the Father and gave all that she had to live on to glorify him: the scriptures stated clearly that we are to take care of poor widows, (1 Timothy 5:16); for the Father knows that older widows are true widows to be taken care of by the congregation; the text did not mention her age but we know that she was a poor widow who trusted in the Father that if she gave all her money to his will, the Father will not forsake her but will sustain her life. Jesus was very impressed about her giving attitude and faithfulness to the Father and pointed it out to his disciples: beloved, what are our giving attitudes today?
Case in point, (43) And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: when Jesus saw what the widow did, he called his disciples to come closer and said; Truly, I tell you, this widow had put more into the offering box than all others who gave into offerings; Jesus wanted his disciples to know how tender hearted, faithful and god-fearing the widow was to have cast her last pocket change into the offering box; at times, when offering trays are passed around in our places of worships, we may have little in our pockets to give, so we give nothing because we feel ashamed that someone may observe that we only had little to offer to the Father; actually it does not matter to him, if we have or have no money, what matters is what is in our hearts before his throne of grace; for (i) the Father only deals with issues of our hearts, he watches over our souls to see if we love, fear, obey his commandments including tithes and offerings, (Malachi 3:10-12); (ii) also, the heart issues, has nothing to do with how much money we give in offerings and tithes the issue is, do we believe in the Father who gave the blessings that he is able to replenish our pockets with multiple blessings if we do that which is rightful with our blessings before him through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? (2 Chronicles 31:11+12); (iii) the heart issue is also faithfulness issue, we have to believe that everything that comes to us in forms of blessings are from the Father, he gives us blessings because of love for his children; whether, we work to bring home paychecks or we receive blessings from hands of others, all these blessings are from his hands; for example, if the Father did not open up doors for us to acquire jobs, guess what? there will be no pay checks, we will live in poverty; so our jobs came from him, so are our paychecks; (iv) as the Father gives, he also watches over our blessings to see what we do with what has given; if we do right, we will receive abundance from him to continue to do right; if we misuse our blessings, we minimize our ourselves from receiving more blessings from the Father and we are not good stewardship, (Luke 16:10); therefore, let us be mindful of what we do with blessings from the Father through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Points to ponder, (44) For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Jesus, made the point clear to his disciples, that everyone gave offerings out of their abundance of blessings, the widow had nothing but out of her needy situation gave everything she had to live on to the Father; ponder point, faith in action; (i) the widow had faith in the Father that if she gave all her living to him; in miraculous ways, the Father will provide all her needs according to the riches of his glory. (Philippians 4:19); (ii) she did not care who was looking at her to see how much money she cast into the treasury, but obeyed the Father by doing the right thing before him, she went home with joyfulness of heart knowing that she did what was right before the Father of grace, I believe that she received abundance of blessings for her love, trust and faithfulness to the Father of all blessings.
CONCLUSION:
Brethren, today's lesson is on giving, trusting and faithfulness to the Father through Christ our Lord and Savior; understanding of the subject is simple; we ought to give and it will be given unto us in good measures.......(Luke 6:38); we ought to trust the Father with our givings, believe that Jesus will replenish our pockets with multiple blessings; that we will not lack anything; nor will he forsake us in times of hardships, will send ravens to feed us in our wildernesses, our souls will be nourished with manna from the spacious firmament of glory, and living waters to drink so we thirst no more but out of our bellies shall flow living waters forever and evermore. Believe in Jesus! Amen and Amen!
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
(KJV.) 2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
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