Giving sacrificially

Luke 20: 45 - 21: 4

..but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.

It is always easy to give out of our abundance. It is better than not giving, but at the same time, it costs little. In fact, this is the usual practice, I believe, for most of us. We always need to 'insure' ourselves; well, just in case. It is not easy to give as sacrificially as the poor widow did. When I come across passages like this, I am really challenged. There is no simple way out, to rationalize myself. There are times when I do 'give' but of course often it does not take away too much. And there is always the temptation to give in order to be seen, as the rich did in this story.

It is never the actual amount that God sees and praises. He sees the heart of the person who gives. The amount may be large, and yet there could well be much pride linked to the giving. I think this must have been the case with the rich in Jesus' time. The poor widow was one of the marginalized in society then. She was probably a 'non-person' in society. But her actions show her to be a precious person in God's sight. She claimed her place as one of God's children, by playing her part in the giving, however small it was. Her heart was in the right place ....desiring to worship God through her giving, through loving sacrifice...that touched Jesus' heart.

I know where I stand in all this...the spirit is willing but the flesh is often weak. The only way to grow in generosity of heart is to recall the generosity of my Lord, who "for our sakes became poor....so that we through his poverty could become rich". Only by contemplating the generosity of God with thankful hearts (not by own own efforts of 'trying harder', which would lead to pride) can we grow in sacrificial giving.