Give Your All

Have you ever stood out in a crowd?  Picture yourself as a commoner waiting for hours for the king to come out of his palace.  You finally catch a glimpse of his shiny crown and crane your neck to see more.  

Then suddenly he looks directly at you!  He seems to see your soul and smiles from a distance and points you out to his royal courtiers.

This is somewhat what happened in ancient Israel.  Someone seemingly unimportant and unnoticeable among the synagogue's wealthy, held Jesus' eye.

"Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ⁴⁴ They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44

The widow who was one of society's most poorest and most pitiable gave the most.  She didn't give the most money but she gave all she had to live on.  

I usually come across this passage when the Lord is asking me to accept more responsibility for a new role I need to take on such as when I was asked to serve the poor or when I was asked to become a pastoral leader (and other such terrifying things!)

Fear must have gripped the widow as she considered giving her last coins.  How will she live?  What about the future?  But then she must have received much from God that her gratitude superceded her fear.

I can relate.  God has been so good to me that it would seem ridiculous to withhold anything from Him.  He who has nor withheld any good thing from us, even His only Son!

God usually asked something of us that we don't have much of.  God is rich in all things, except for one thing.  He only had one Son.  But that is what He gave us, the most dearest to Him.  So it is only a fitting thing to give God not from our surplus but coming from a place of lack to show Him how thankful we are for all the goodness He has shown us!