November 10, 2024 Daily Dose of Discernment

“Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:43-44)

The widow's selfless giving is lauded by Jesus. He cites her for doing it out of poverty and declares that her seemingly insignificant offering is greater than all the much bigger contributions of all the other donors. He didn't say it's as if she gave more; He said she did give more.

By kingdom standards, the amount of money in our offering is not as important as how much sacrifice is involved in it. The Bible says that even if we give all our possessions to feed the poor but don’t have love, it would be of no value whatsoever. But a widow’s mite or five loaves and two fish offered in love at great cost to the giver does more in advancing the kingdom of God than millions in monetary currency given out of surplus. That is not to say we cannot give large amounts. The bottom line is, however many zeros there are in our gift, let the kind intention of our heart always be behind it.