"...I tell you the truth, 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 that she had to live on." Mark 12:43-44
We're a funny bunch, us humans. Ever wonder if the "hosts of heaven" look down on us sometimes shaking their heads and saying, "they just don't get it do they?"
As much as Jesus loved his disciples, he still expressed his frustration with them from time to time because they just didn't seem to catch on. In Matthew 17:17 he even said, "...how long shall I put up with you?" They were, as we are, true to the description that God outlined in 1 Samuel 16:7 when he said that "man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
How often do we look at situations and people and make judgments on face value rather than asking for that eternal perspective that can only come from spending time with the One who holds eternity in his grasp? We compare ourselves, our situations, our circumstances, our education and careers, our abilities and talents, our possessions, our relationships with everyone else. Why is it that we feel such a need to do that all the time? Sadly, we never win when we get on the comparison train. When will we understand that God's plans and purposes for us having nothing to do with how we stack up to the next guy (or girl). What a release to decide against another trip around that same track. To decide it's time to get off and start marching to a totally different tune (or is that drummer?)
The widow in this verse was rich. Yes, I said she was rich! Why? Because she decided against the comparison train long before she entered the temple. Don't you think she knew all the "power players" with their wealth and influence would be watching when she put her 2 little copper coins in the plate? Sure she did. But she didn't care because she was wearing eternal glasses that day. Her vision was focused on one thing and one thing only - giving all she had to the One who had her name written in the palm of His hand. (Isaiah 49:16)
I've heard it said that when we give (not just materially by the way) that God doesn't look at what we give away nearly as much as He does at what we keep for ourselves. Hmmm. That's a game changer.
Looks like the widow was the one with all the "might" after all.
