And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the
people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich
cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she
threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called
onto him his disciples, and saith onto them …
This entire verse deals with the offering. People were giving in the offering and Jesus was standing right next to the money basket. I want you to notice that Jesus did not refuse the offerings, but rather received them. The Bible teaches that you cannot serve God and mammon (money), but you must serve God with mammon. So then, if you do not have mammon, you cannot serve God. Jesus uses this poor widow as an example for businesspersons and people of all faiths to realize. The emphasis was not so much on how much this woman gave, but rather how much was left over after she gave. The measure of your giving is never measured by the amount given, but by the amount that remains after you have given. There are people who are rich that often give one hundred dollars here or maybe one thousand dollars there. They give not necessarily in faith but rather because one hundred or one thousand dollars seems to be a lot of money to many people, but really it isn’t for them. All giving that pleases God requires faith. When you give, your giving must require faith, not convenience. There are people that made less than minimum wage and by faith gave one hundred dollar seed offerings until they became wealthy. For them, that took great faith. However a person that makes $100.00 per hour, may need to stretch a bit further in their faith and give far more than that to really please God with their giving. A near billionaire once gave our ministry $1000.00. Spirit told me not to deposit the check at all. I did not want to send the person the message that the church was desperate for his money.
His seed did not represent a faithful commitment on his part. If anything, his seed was really a sloppy tip. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not implying that this man was obligated to give anything. That was his free will. What I am saying is that when it comes to giving especially to those things that are spiritual in nature, there needs to be a standard set by spiritual leaders of that which is acceptable toward God. This same person would not have any problem buying gaudy showy wear to impress his friends, or give hundreds of thousands of dollars toward causes that would yield him a kickback.
Every businessperson must understand that genuine heartfelt giving is not about kickbacks or even tax benefits, although there is nothing wrong with taking the benefits that the government affords you. My point is that the highest level of giving is when you give in faith toward a spiritual cause, and know within that spirit will reward you for your heartfelt giving. That’s giving at it’s best.
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What is keeping you from giving your best to God?