Do You Look Up To The Might in the Mite?
Good Morning Friends,
A couple of days ago the devotional focused on the small things that become important and another on investing in Kingdom work and how we tend to place worldly priority on things that are not as valuable to Jesus as our initial thinking might suggest. So when our cable went out I began to think about it again. It is still out. Well we decided to watch a DVD and the movie we watched, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit made this very same point about small things. No today’s devotional is not about Hobbits…well not just about Hobbits… I will save an analysis of the Christian overtones of Tolkien and his friends for another day. Instead I ask you a question about small things.
So, Do You Look Up To The Might in the Mite?
Scripture: He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”
Luke 21:1-4 (NRSV)
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3 (NRSV)
Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed;
Luke 17:20 (NRSV)
Message: Jesus had great observational skills. If you got a haircut he would notice not just the change but whether you liked it or not. But we are not as skilled especially in seeing things of the heart. The strange thing is that we miss things we should see. This made me wonder how often I really pay attention when I look at people. Do I focus on the person or on all the things I’m doing? When I look at them, do I really see them? Well Jesus really saw people. And I think He sees you and me. When Jesus encountered someone, he saw their needs. They became his priority. His eyes even found the invisible ones whom everyone else overlooked, such as the poor widow. Friends, perhaps our first act of love as Christians is to open our eyes and truly see those around us. It means setting aside our own agenda for a moment, and that’s not easy. But it’s the only way to find out what — and whom — we’re missing! In the scripture story we see a woman loving the Lord God with all her passion and prayer and intelligence and energy… the story of the widow’s mite. Here we see a woman loving others as if she were loving herself. It is a story about measuring giving not by the size of the gift, but how much we have left after the gift is given. We stand at the border of the kingdom realizing that we too must put God first before we can come into an intimacy with Him. We cannot serve two masters. Learning this might just be the beginning of an unexpected journey that does not require cable.
Pray that God will use us. Pray that we not seek to impress. Pray that we understand that God has commanded us each to give of ourselves…something that others cannot see. Pray that we sow bountifully. Pray that our motivation be one of faith. Pray that we understand that God knows the need better than we do. Pray that we give ourselves to Him, complete in our surrender so we might be more observant of life with God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 