City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

21 1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Luke 21:1-4

Reflection

Rich? Poor? It doesn’t matter. As demonstrated in the passage of scripture above, Jesus doesn’t focus on the financial condition of the giver.

Nor is His focus on the amount given. Instead, Jesus focuses on the faith demonstrated by each of the gifts.

The rich gave out of their surplus. Having a surplus means having more than you need, and if you have more than you need, you are in a position to give without rendering yourself needy. Such giving requires little faith, really. 

I think this is why the Lord requires a tithe instead of mere giving. The tithe is a “gift” of the first 10% of our income. I put the word gift in quotation marks because as good students of the Bible we all know the Bible teaches the tithe belongs to the Lord. We are simply returning it to Him.

Tithing requires more faith than surplus giving because a tithe is paid out of the first 10%, and one can never be sure if the rest will cover all one’s needs. 

In the story above though, the poor widow was not tithing; her gift was not from the first of her increase. And she was not giving out of her surplus; she gave “all she had to live on.” After she gave the two copper coins, she apparently had no money left.

Application

By giving all she had to live on the widow demonstrated great faith. Her gift said she trusted God more than money.

And Jesus was pleased with her trust.

Prayer

Lord, help my giving be a demonstration of faith in You. Amen.