Dear Christian friends:

Today our text tells about giving money to the church. When the pastor preaches about giving money to the church people feel strong emotions. Some become angry and upset. Some feel guilty and upset. Many think the pastor should never preach about giving money to the church. Some who give much feel proud and pat themselves on the back.

We feel like this because we misunderstand about God and how we should love and honor Him. Some say, "God doesn't care how you give to the church." That is very important to Him, and it should also be important to you. God wants you to study your giving and to judge yourselves.

How you give shows if you love and trust God or not. In our text Jesus sat opposite the contribution boxes in church. He was watching how people put money into them.


Some say, "That's my business." They think Jesus has a big nose and should not watch how the people give. True, that is your business. But you are not God. You are His steward and it is also His business. He is our Maker, we did not make ourselves. He is our Savior. We did not save ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. So our business is His business. Yes, Jesus has a big nose.

Jesus loves us, and cares about us. We should be glad about that. He judges very correctly. (verses 41-44) Jesus does not judge like we do. Here He says the smallest gift is the largest. He considers percentage giving. The rich Jews gave more money than the widow, perhaps 2% or 3% of their income. The poor widow gave perhaps .50 cents, but that was all she had, 100%. We should give as God blesses us. Some misunderstand the widow's mite.

He judges our trust in giving. The widow gave all her living money, not "left-overs." By doing this she shows perfect trust in God. She believed that God would provide food, clothing and shelter for her. She was not afraid to give and then depend only on God.

Often we are afraid to give a good percentage to God. We worry, "Maybe I will not have enough left for my family. My family is first." Or we think, "I better save for a rainy day. Next year I may lose my job. I can't give 10% to God now."

The widow did not worry about the future. She trusted in God's promise that He cares for us as He does the birds of the sky. Her God was the true God, the living God who made heaven and earth and who still preserves it daily, the God who knows how many hairs we have on our head. Her God was alive, mighty, wise and kind. By her giving she showed this.

What does your giving show about your faith? If you earn much and give little you show that your God is dead or weak, ignorant and cruel. If we are afraid to give, we do not honor and praise our God, but insult Him.

Yes, Jesus watches how we give to the church. He knows everything about us. We can't hide anything from Him. This ought to help us judge ourselves and see ourselves as we really are. It should help us to confess our sins of the past, our weak faith and small love for Him.

But we should not give up (despair) He watches us because He loves us. He suffered and died on the cross for our sins. He has forgiven us and adopted us as His children. He promises to give us His Holy Spirit, so that we can love and trust Him as children love and trust their dear father.

He doesn't want us to trust in money or other earthly things. That's why He asks us to give to the church. That's why He watches how we give. He is watching for our soul. He doesn't want us to wander away to other gods.

Amen.