Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”
Our Bible verse for today: “Sitting across from the temple treasury, He watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums. And a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. Summoning His disciples, He said to them, ‘I assure you: This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she possessed – all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Great men and women of God give sacrificially to His work.”
Her name was Jane. When I knew her she was in her late seventies. Jane had been a pastor’s wife. At other times in her life she had been a Youth leader, a Christian camp counselor, a manager of a Christian bookstore, and for years she wrote Sunday school curriculum for the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board. She also delivered mail for the U.S. Postal Service out in the California desert. Talk about tough work!
But when I knew her she was long-since retired and she lived alone in a little trailer in a little town out in the desert. Jane was a member of our church and she served in many ways. Sunday School Director, substitute teacher, kitchen committee, church prayer team leader, and of course, if the doors of the church were open, Jane was there.
One year on Pastor Appreciation Day I saw Jane approaching me with a little smile on her face and a gift bag in her hand. It was a gift for me – a book she knew I had been wanting and hadn’t gotten around to buying for myself yet. Jane bought it for me.
It was one of the most meaningful gifts anyone has ever given me because I knew it cost Jane a lot to be able to give it. As I said, she was single, she lived on a small fixed income in a very small very old trailer in a little town, and she just barely made ends meet each month. Jane had no extra money. Ever. So for her to spend the $20 to buy that book for me meant that she did without something for herself, probably food.
That was fifteen years ago and the entire exchange took less than two minutes but I can see it as clearly today as I did back then in the moment it was happening. And, I’m sure I will never forget it.
The point Jesus was making in Mark 12:41-44 was that it’s not the size of our gift that matters to God it’s the sacrifice we’re willing to make in order to give it. If we give a gift out of our excess, and therefore it cost’s us little to give it, that’s nowhere near as meaningful as if we give in a manner that requires us to make a personal sacrifice in order to give it.
Truly great men and women of God are generous to the point of sacrificial giving. I encourage each of us to prayerfully consider how much we give to help support the work of God, and how much does it really cost us?
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 