Good Morning Friends,
Not all widows are poor and not all widows are generous, but whether wealthy or not they can help us to learn the nature of impressing God. The harsh reality is that our buying and giving habits can often perpetuate systems that marginalize the poor and contradict good stewardship. Integrating the faith we profess into the life we live; is the insight and action I think we need to promote good stewardship. Here we must mature in faith, understanding that we must give joyously. So, Do You Know What Real Giving Is About?
Scripture: As he taught, he said, ‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’ He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’
Mark 12:38-44 (NRSV)
For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (NRSV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
John 3:16 (NRSV)
For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Hebrews 9:24-28 (NRSV)
So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
1 Kings 17:10-16 (NRSV)
Message: Today’s widows may indeed be very wealthy, but widows during the time of Christ were not highly regarded. They did not inherit wealth or typically make it independently. Today’s scripture reaches beyond these changes in society to teach us the power of being totally dependent upon God. It challenges us to go out and risk it all. Friends, in ministry I am surrounded with people society calls rich (retired executives of corporations) and poor (unemployed victims of economic downturns and natural disasters, immigrant farm workers and children.) Sometimes they get together, and amazing things happen. Jesus shows up and we learn firsthand about the rich being poor and the poor being rich. Christ’s transformative presence in culture knows something about influence and power that we typically miss. In today’s scripture we are told a story about how those with nothing to lose are prepared to take risks that the wealth encumbered are not. We are given a story to instruct us in the emotions of giving and living. Friends, because Jesus did not hold anything back but put his entire life onto the cross to pay for sins, we have the opportunity to experience the Kingdom of God. Friends, God wants all our life not just part of it. God wants us to experience all of life. Today’s scripture is about the grace of giving extravagantly to the point of joy, giving in the reality that so doing will bring you to the point of being totally dependent on God. 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. So too in today’s text from I Kings about the prophet Elijah and another widow. Elijah had been sitting by a brook at Cherith and Ravens have been bringing him food and he has been drinking the water from the brook but then one day the brook dries up and God commands him to go to Zarephath where a widow will provide for his needs. It is an example of one door closing and another one opening. Maybe the widow was looking to give up on life. She had so little and had little logical hope and yet she trusted that God would make something of the little she had. But I think God turned her little faith into something great. Here a little becomes a lot. The thing is that when we trust God gloom becomes grace and God turns situations around.
And So, 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. Here we see that the greatest barrier to the door of the kingdom of God is greed. So, give to the point of joy, give to the point you are dependent on God. Give as a real-life commitment of your love of God and your neighbor. Here giving is a gift and a blessing. It is a two-way street where we share in our plenty and receive in our poverty. It is humbling for we all are spiritually broke…no worse, spiritual debtors who can only be reconciled through the debt Jesus paid. His payment leaves us free to learn, and free to share, free to love, and free to see that we have been forgiven so that we in turn can open our hearts to the gift of giving. Giving shows our trust in the Lord, it shows our recognition that He owns it all. Giving is an investment with guaranteed returns that it also provides for those who would otherwise go without. Giving makes God happy and provokes a thankful heart in us. Giving puts us in the good company of those who have submitted with obedience to God to carry on the work of the Spirit around the world. We are to find the extravagant power… the joyous power of being all in as a commitment to being part of a community of love. That is what real giving is about.
Pray that we be good stewards of the resources we have been provided. Pray that we have all the stuff we need, the talk, the smarts, the love, and the desire but not fall short when it comes to acting. Pray that we are not sidetracked when it comes to the grace of giving. Pray that we give because we find great joy in being obedient to God’s call on our lives. Pray that we have a lifestyle that puts it all in. Pray we be prepared to give it all up for the sake of God. Pray we are never lukewarm for God. Pray that we understand the nature of influence and power in new ways. Pray we are challenged but love anyway. Pray that we are faithful. Pray we keep our minds in Christ Jesus always. Pray we embrace economic faithfulness in the grace of giving. Pray that we understand the power of real giving.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 