From A Pure Heart

As Jesus watched people place their offering into the temple treasury, He noticed a poor widow who put in two coins valued at less than a penny.

Mark 12:43-44
"Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, '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 she had to live on.'"

This passage gives us a wonderful example of faith and how God must be the Lord of our finances - but the real message actually goes much deeper.

We have all been blessed in so many ways; and we are called to be good stewards, or managers, of all our blessings. As a good steward, we must present all we possess back to our Heavenly Father as an offering of love. Yes, this relates to our financial resources, but it also means we are to offer our gifts, abilities, talents, and time back to God through service and ministry to others. God created us (the complete package of who we are) for a purpose. We will need to spend good quality time with God to fully understand our purpose, but we can be absolutely sure that God has NOT blessed us so we can advance our own selfish agenda!

Every one of our blessings, no matter how small, are given so we can bless God in return. We often hold back from ministry opportunities because we feel our "offering" is insignificant - we feel inadequate to serve or unworthy to make a true contribution to the work of God's Kingdom. But God is never concerned with the magnitude of a gift - He is, and always has been, concerned and blessed by the condition of our heart: "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams" (1 Samuel 15:22). How we give is much more important than what we give.

God does not need our money, time, ability, or anything we accomplish or produce. He loves us dearly and desires to receive the complete love and devotion which is given with our offering. Jesus was blessed by a widow who gave from her heart, even though the actual gift carried very little earthly value.

If we want our service or ministry to have significance in the eyes of God, we must focus on the One to whom we are giving rather than on the value of the gift in the eyes of man. With our eyes focused, we must then give with all the love in our heart. If our heart is pure in the giving, God will receive our offering as a true blessing. There are no worthless or insignificant gifts when the gift is given from a pure heart.

Steve,

I want to thank you for these daily devotionals. I can not begin to tell you how God has been speaking to me directly through your words. Everyday through June and July I feel like God spoke directly to me in the things I have been concerned about and this one here especially because I am in the process of raising support to go on an international missions trip for a year and the support hasnt been comming in like I expected. But here I am reminded about giving and trusting God with Financial things and I couldnt stop myself from letting you know that God is speaking through you. Thank you for this blessing of devotional emails.

Julia

I agree. The daily word from a pure heart set the tone in many ways that I need to become more of. I always say I want to do this or that or give but don't always follow through.. just giving thought to the poor lady made me think that she truly gave purely and with no intentions of receiving but rather all that she had she gave because her heart was in the right place. I need to be more like that. Many of us do. Thank you Steve.

Thanks for the encouragement! I strive to give my all with a pure heart, but I find I never achieve anything close to purity. I'm continually in need of greater humility and a greater sense of selflessness. It seems I am continually reminded we are truly a work in progress.

Keep on seeking and drawing closer in ALL you do!