All She Had To Live On
March 24, 2008 – 9:00 amJesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” - Luke 21:1-4
I think that too often I (all of us, probably) read this passage and think, “well, I’m not in poverty, so I don’t need to “put in” all I have. As long as I’m not as stingy as the “rich”, I’m alright.”
But then I read down a little farther and am further warned:
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life” - Luke 21:34
The woman who put in all she had to live on was not weighed down with the cares of this life. The rich were.
I am.
But that, too, is a sin for which Jesus died.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. - 2 Corinthians 8:9
By Jesus’ poverty - not by my own wealth accumulation - I become rich. Rich in what? I get to enjoy Jesus, forever, in heaven - that’s true richness.
-Ben
