Giving or Keeping?

Descipleship

43Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury;

– Mark 12:43

6Now I say this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

– 2 Corinthians 9:6-7
(NASB® © 2020)

The poor woman gave much less than the fine gentlemen. Only a fraction of what went from the rich man’s fat wallet into the treasury. So why does the Lord Jesus say here that she put in more?

One brother expresses the reason for this as follows: “The crucial question is not how much we give, but how much we keep!” So, it is not about the size of the gift but about its size in comparison to what we keep for ourselves. So the widow gave 100% to God, while the rich could only have given 1%. The Lord pays attention to this ratio! Every material gift, no matter how small – given in appreciation of Him – Is valuable in His eyes!

Here are a few thoughts on this:

In chapters 8 and 9 of Second Corinthians, which deal with willing financial giving, Paul presents the pre-eminent example to motivate generosity: the Lord Jesus Himself. He says there: “Or you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). We are asked to give some money, clothes or food. The Lord gave Himself. When was He “rich”? Certainly not as a child in the manger in Bethlehem, nor in Gethsemane, Gabbata, and Golgotha. He had already become poor for our sake. And all this happened so that we might become “rich through his poverty.” For this reason, it should be our greatest joy to give everything we are and have to Him. No argument could be more compelling in the midst of this reflection by Paul on Christian giving.

Frank B. Hole writes: “This seems to me to be a tremendous lever. What you can do with a lever in mechanical areas is enormous; so too in grace. It would do us all good to think a lot about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have often heard the question: ‘Why do we make so little progress in our spiritual life? Don’t the passages from 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 provide an answer to this question? They show us that a major reason for our lack of progress is that we are not giving. We are too much like the Dead Sea, where water constantly flows in, but nothing ever flows out […] A large number of Christians today are spiritually starving. They attend meetings, hear beautiful interpretations of Scripture, take part in word meditations, and when they go home, it all evaporates. So, one year after another passes without growth. I believe this is because they are not practiced at this point. ‘He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly.’ He who has a stingy spirit, who opens neither heart nor hand, will reap but little. God always takes into account what a person has, not what he does not have. But if he gives something, his sowing will also result in a harvest.”

Let us take this thought deep into our hearts: The motivation for us to give some of our money lies in the fact that the Lord Jesus gave everything for us and kept nothing back! Let us examine ourselves: Aren’t we clinging to “our” money a lot? Do we love the feeling of our account balance growing month after month? How much do we really give to the Lord – or rather, how much do we keep back for ourselves? Doesn’t the money already belong to God anyway, and we are only supposed to manage it (see 1 Chr 29:14)? Georg Müller is probably right when he says: “We rob ourselves of a great deal of God’s blessing when we see ourselves more as owners than stewards.”

God is a giver-God. We can also become more like Him in this.

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