Every Sunday as we come to church and place our offerings into
the offering bags, do we give a thought to it?
In
Mark 12: 41, it records that Jesus sat and watched the people
put their offerings into the temple treasury. He was not watching
what they gave (in terms of amounts) but rather what they gave
out of (the circumstances of giving). He noticed that the people
gave a tiny part of their surplus. A poor widow, on the other
hand, dropped only two mites into the treasury. Yet, proportionately
she gave more than the rich. She gave everything she had to
live on. This meant more to Jesus than the large wealthy sums
of money others gave.
Our
God is not a calculative God who is eager to receive our money.
He is the Almighty God, Ruler of the Universe. There is nothing
that is not His. He is self-sufficient and does not need our
offerings. You and I are given resources from and by God to
use them carefully for His good work. The way we give shows
our attitude that we are stewards of what we have, not of possessors
of possessions to be used at our whims and fancies.
We
are given blessings, possessions of titles, power and belongings
to be used for a purpose. Jesus watches not because He is calculative
but to see how we well we learnt to be stewards of our current
resources to be used in due time and proportionally for Him
and His work.
What
do we give to God? Do we give Him our leftovers, surplus or
are we prepared to give like the poor widow? In 1 Corinthians
16:2, Paul teaches us that we must deliberately put aside an
amount daily, throughout the week and eventually bring the consolidated
amount at the end of the week to the church to make an offering.
It speaks of a deliberated preparation to make offerings rather
than unprepared, unintentional amounts. Stewardship is important
to God because it shapes our lives.
2
God does not need our funds
Our
Almighty God does not need our funds. Jesus exalted the poor
widow’s offering over that of the rich – He does
not consider amounts when He looks at our offerings. Some people
have the misconception that Pledge Sunday is a day for the church
to ask the congregation to contribute funds for the Pastors’
salaries. The pastors serve in the church because they have
a Calling. They serve because they love the Lord and responded
to His Calling. God does not need our resources but He chooses
to give us an opportunity to be part of His work when we choose
to respond to Him. If we do not respond, He can find alternative
means or do it Himself. We must remember that we will be called
by God to give an account for the way we have used His resources.