By: The Rev. Russell E. J. Martin
Many people often wonder how much is enough when it comes to questions of generosity? As Christians, we must begin by understanding two fundamental realities.
First, all we have comes from God. There is not one thing we have that comes to us apart from the Lord’s discretion and sovereign will. Not, one penny, not one loaf of bread not even one breath belongs to us without God first granting it! So whatever we give rightly belongs to Him, for He was the one who first imparted it to us. The second is there is absolutely no way we can out-give God. Because there is no way to out-give God-for He withheld nothing not even His One and Only Son, whose life was offered as a ransom for many. As Jesus and the Disciples sat, watching people present their gifts at the offering box, Jesus commends the widow, over and above the rich, both for her express generosity in giving all she had, as well as the implicit faith and reverence she exercised in giving so sacrificially. The rich gave out of the abundance they had already amassed while the woman gave out her “poverty,” meaning she gave from her very subsistence – a gift that must have cost her dearly! We see in the widow a willingness to give not only all her material wealth to the Lord but also her own wellbeing. That is by giving all the money she had she was now entirely dependent upon God’s provision. She held nothing back not even herself! This is such a stark contrast to the scribes, “who devour widows ‘houses and for a pretense make long prayers” (Mark 12:40 ESV). On the one hand, you have a poor woman who demonstrates “a broken and contrite heart” which the Lord will
not despise (Ps. 51:17) and on the other there are the pompous who are her antithesis.
This is the same dichotomy Solomon addresses when he wrote: “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Prov. 21:2-3 ESV)
We can clearly see how it is not the size or inherent value of the gift that is most significant but the heart from which such a gift is offered. This leaves us with two critical questions to consider. First, what gift or offering am I to render unto the Lord? Second, what things do I hold most dear and which of these things am I willing to give up in order to demonstrate full reliance upon God? If Jesus expects us to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s what can I offer save myself? Life is the most precious gift any of us has and what more can we to present to the Lord but our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship” (Roman 12:1 ESV) Moreover, if life is the most prized possession any of us has, then it is inherent upon every Christian to stand up, advocate, and defend life, recognizing it for the wondrous gift that it is, even as we adopt the widow’s heart as our own!</p>