When I was leading a small church, we faced a huge crisis. Unless we could complete the building work necessary to bring our building up to the proper safety codes, we would lose our meeting place. A desperate time of fundraising followed, but of all the money given, one gift captured our leadership’s attention.

An elderly woman in the church donated a lot of money to the project—money we knew she could not spare. We thanked her for her gift but wanted to return it, feeling that her needs were greater than the church’s. However, she refused to take the money back. She had been saving for years in order to buy a cooker and was cooking on a hotplate in the meantime. Yet she insisted that she needed a place to worship with her church family more than she needed a cooker. We were astounded by her generous gift.

When our Lord observed a widow putting two mites (the smallest of coins) into the temple offerings, He praised her for her generosity (Luke 21:3-4). Why? Not because of how much she gave, but because she gave all she had. It’s the kind of gift that not only honours our God, but also reminds us of the most generous of gifts to us—Christ.

Author

Bill Crowder

Topics

Our Daily Bread