Giving Our Lives
A reading for Monday, March 7, 2016: Luke 21:1-4.
Giving out of abundance doesn't really change much. If we have all we need, and are just giving what's left, then there is no sacrifice on our part. The gift will still do some good for those in need and the budgets we seek to support, but we are not changed. We do not do without. We have not given ourselves.
When we have to sacrifice something in order to give, then we give more. We have to put priority on another's need and perhaps go without. That's what the widow in the story is doing. She is giving all she had to live on as devotion to the Lord. She will do without in order to give. The widow has done the more faithful act. She is willing to give her all, even herself.
At some point, the Christian life will force us to deal with ourselves and our willingness to give not only our money but also our very lives.
In the previous chapter in Luke, Jesus was asked "Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?” They said, “The emperor’s.” He said to them, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Jesus wants us to give our whole selves to God. What we do with our money is important, but what we give of our lives is more.
Giving out of abundance doesn't really change much. If we have all we need, and are just giving what's left, then there is no sacrifice on our part. The gift will still do some good for those in need and the budgets we seek to support, but we are not changed. We do not do without. We have not given ourselves.
When we have to sacrifice something in order to give, then we give more. We have to put priority on another's need and perhaps go without. That's what the widow in the story is doing. She is giving all she had to live on as devotion to the Lord. She will do without in order to give. The widow has done the more faithful act. She is willing to give her all, even herself.
At some point, the Christian life will force us to deal with ourselves and our willingness to give not only our money but also our very lives.
In the previous chapter in Luke, Jesus was asked "Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?” They said, “The emperor’s.” He said to them, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Jesus wants us to give our whole selves to God. What we do with our money is important, but what we give of our lives is more.
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