04 January, 2011

Two Tiny Coins

"Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12:43-44

Though extremely poor, I find the widow with the two coins in the bible as one of the most greathearted person ever lived. Jesus caught sight of her in the temple. No one else would have noticed her but Jesus, with eyes that penetrated both her circumstances and her heart, recognized the astonishing nature of her gift. Truly, her gesture was a sign of complete abandonment to God. After learning about this, I kind of picture myself in the scene and asked myself, "If I was there at the temple, putting my offering at the receptacle, what would Jesus see?" Oh my, I guess I would be a great dissapointment!

I salute this woman for being able to willingly and graciously give to the Lord ALL THAT SHE HAD! She truly is a woman of faith because she wouldn't have offered her last penny if she didn't believe that God would care better than she could care for herself. Also, she must have believe in the value of her small offering. What need had God for two copper of coins anyway? But maybe, God in a manner of speaking, did need what she had to offer. Perhaps her gesture consoled Jesus a short time before his passion and death. She had given everything she had to live on; soon, he would give his very life.
The widow also furnishes us with the best example of recognizing the need for money - she had money, although very little - but also the need to hold it lightly - she willingly and lovingly gave it away.1 Timothy 6:10 says " For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs". A lover of money would have hung unto it more tightly than the widow and, when giving it away, would have made sure the gift was noisily apparent.
Personally, I have been constantly skimming the bottom in the last years of my life but God has remained faithful on my needs. I assure you, He truly is a GOD THAT YOU CAN RELY ON and A JEVOHAH JIREH OF ALL TIME! My true security is not in my bank account, but in God alone! :-)
Lastly, the story of the widow and her two copper coins reminds me that God's kingdom works on an entirely different principle than the Kingdom of this world. In the divine economy, the size of the gift is of no conseqeuence; what matters is the size of the giver's heart! :-)

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