Generosity Where It Counts
It’s been a little bit quieter day, Father, but it has been a good day – good worship with Your people, good time with Karen, good weather, good food, and it is good having the comfort that only a relationship with You can give.
Mark 12:41-44 (<<click to read the passage)
When last I wrote I addressed those of us who are guilty of having “an excess of receipts” but are disproportionately deficient in our “disbursements”. But there is most definitely a flip side of the “coin,” if you will.
I simply cannot bypass the widow in Jesus’ story. Upon her heart weighed the importance of supporting God’s temple. That she didn’t have more than the two coins to rub together did not stop her from doing what she could.
I Googled the idea that the poor seem to be more generous than the rich. Oh, there are lots of studies and whatnot – some pretty interesting to listen to – but I found a blog entitled The Generous Poor which started out with a story that exemplified this concept.
The story was of a young father who was truly striving to take care of his family. He had inadvertently ran out of gas and had coasted into a grocery store’s gas station with his toddler and infant in tow. Unfortunately, he had no money on him and he resorted to begging shoppers for a dollar or two so he could get home. He figured he asked about fifty people – and not one person helped him out.
Ironically, a few months earlier he had been at the same gas station and had encountered a homeless man. He had been homeless himself at one point and had compassion for the homeless man. He had just received his $300 weekly pay and had the man grab a cart to get whatever he wanted from the nearby grocery.
Even though his offer was generous, “the homeless man stocked up only about $40 worth of groceries: basics like bread and peanut butter and jelly” stating it would meet his need. The young man marveled at the “thriftiness of the impoverished man.”
The author of the blog then stated:
“I marveled at the paradox of it all: my impoverished friend, who that day had been refused even a few dollars at a grocery store that attracted fairly affluent shoppers, was quick to lavish generosity on a homeless stranger, who in turn received his generosity with exemplary thrift.”
Now the source of the blog is – to my knowledge – not a faith-based organization but doesn’t that story strike to the heart of the matter?
Lord Jesus, may we have hearts like this young man. I don’t even know if he was a believer but he surely lived out Your example in loving others as he loved himself. Again, may we not ignore the “widows” but may we be generous where it counts. Amen.
July 14th, 2019, Sun, 6:09 pm
Surplus – An Excess of Receipts Over Disbursements
Father, may we all be grateful when we are able to help those we love. May every single one of us never take those kinds of things for granted. We have been blessed beyond measure and are privileged to give back the blessing.
Mark 12:41-44 (<<click to read the passage)
Lord, as I read through this passage and then look back at my opening prayer, they, at least on one level, go hand in hand.
We have been blessed beyond measure… In verse 44 You refer to it as a “surplus”. One of the definitions found on merriam-webster.com is “an excess of receipts over disbursements”. How perfect is that?! Now that is where our problem lies!
In the blessing department, we have “an excess of receipts”. If we were to take time right now and list our many blessings, our list would be superfluous, that is “exceeding what is sufficient…” (according to its definition).
We are blessed. But, being totally honest, how much do we give back?
In the story of the “Widow’s Mite”, from today’s passage, Jesus, You spoke of most contributors to the temple treasury giving “a tiny part of their surplus”. How many of us are guilty of having “an excess of receipts” but are disproportionately deficient in our “disbursements”.
It seems that many who have little are the most generous. Those who have a lot are much more guarded in how much they give away. In videos posted on social media, time and time again I see examples of needy people who gladly, unselfishly, give away what little they receive so that others may have as well.
Lord Jesus, help us. May those of us who have an “an excess of receipts” when it comes to blessings, seek ways of giving it away. And of course, it is by no means limited to monetary or material blessings. It could be gifts of time or attention. It could be passing along skills so that others might benefit from our knowledge and experience. It might just be that we come to the point where we humble ourselves to touch and love those our world deems “untouchable”. Inspire us, Lord, on how to give it away! Amen.
July 11th, 2019, Thurs, 7:55 pm
Old vs. New
Let the first few verses of Psalm 34:1-3 be my praise today!
I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
I will boast only in the Lord;
let all who are helpless take heart.
Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
let us exalt his name together.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
As I have mentioned before, we have lots of perennials around our home. Most of them we have knowingly planted ourselves but last year and again this year a small cluster of milkweeds appeared in a flower bed behind our home. I recognized what they were and purposely left them to grow. One of them is on the verge of blooming and we have already seen a couple of monarch butterflies around them – hence the reason for leaving them to grow.
Anyway, today I took a walk around our yard and as I walked by that area, I noticed some damaged leaves and a few that had been eaten as well. I was surprised to see that we had had more than just a visit by a monarch but she had left a gift and the gift – an egg mind you! – was now a very well-developed caterpillar! (That is the picture you see above!)
I did a little research and discovered that this caterpillar, due to its size, is probably in its 5th instar which is its last interval between molts (as the caterpillar grows it gets too big for its skin and sheds it – it eats it, too – very nutritious! This is called molting.) I am eager to see it enter its pupal stage and will keep my eyes open for its chrysalis. God’s creation is so cool!
This is interesting and all but what spiritual application could it possibly have? We read 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 as a part of our Bible study this week.
…Christ’s love controls us [or urges us on]. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
As followers of Jesus, we get rid of that old skin – having died to our old life and go through a metamorphosis, as such, becoming a new person in Him!
Once the butterfly emerges from its chrysalis it is a new creation – it no longer acts like its old self but embraces and fully lives out the characteristics of its new self. Lord Jesus, help us to leave behind the past and to fully embrace what our lives are meant to be in You in the here and now! Amen!
July 10th, 2019, Wed, 8:17 pm
Just Deserts
Father, no matter how far along the path we journey with You, no matter how close we are to You, the great deceiver lurks. He wants us to fall. He wants us to wander from Your side. This evening I would pray for all believers that they would remain strong, that when the stench of his presence first hits us that we will clasp Your hand all the more tightly and quickly gaze into Your eyes for strength that he would be banished once more from our presence. Hear my prayer, oh Father.
Mark 12:38-40 (<<click to read the passage)
Just deserts – and before you go correcting my grammar, it is deserts (with one “s”) and not desserts (with two). The word desert used here is not an arid sand-covered expanse of geography. It is, in fact, an archaic term meaning ‘things deserved’. And it most definitely doesn’t mean you deserve another piece of cake!
Jesus, once again, was laying out the religious leaders’ impure motives. They were pious on the outside alone and He made it very clear that “…because of this, they will be more severely punished.” v40b
In Matthew 23:27-28 Jesus gave an excellent word picture of who they actually were.
For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Lord Jesus, it would strike fear into the hearts of many of Your “followers” if our hearts, thoughts, and true motives were to become transparent to those around us! Many are devout in church attendance. We faithfully support ministry with time, energy and monetary resources. We readily pray over the meals at family gatherings when asked. …and on and on it goes. But truth be told, how many serve out of obligation or tradition. And, sadly so, they have nothing to do with any truly valid relationship with You.
May our eyes be opened. May we face up to the reality of who we really are and turn from our deceptive ways. For, sooner or later, our “just deserts” will come – no doubt about it.
July 9th, 2019, Tues, 10:00 pm
Stubborn
Father, what a day of blessings! Thank You for the opportunities given. Thank You for the ability and the strength to do what needed to be done. Thank You for Your sustaining grace. Amen.
Mark 12:35-37 (<<click to read the passage)
I have read or listened to passages of Scripture many times and it never ceases to amaze me how something that has been there all along will come to the forefront of my comprehension for the very first time in my recollection!
In today’s passage, Jesus once again is driving home the fact of Who He is. Once again, He is pointing out that those who should be in the know are out in left field and once again, they are so bound and determined to stick to their point of view! It is really sinking in how hard Jesus worked at driving home the truth and how stubborn and resolute those around Him were to not believe that truth. I guess I have just sort of passed it off as ignorance on their part – they just didn’t understand. But the problem was they had no desire whatsoever to understand! Their minds were made up and, you better believe it, they were not going to change them!
A couple allowed the truth to permeate their hard heads and hard hearts – but maybe those two – Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea – maybe their minds were open to the truth and the soil of their hearts were eager to welcome the multitudinous seeds of truth being planted by Jesus – who was the Messiah, who was who He said He was, in exactly the way He said He was.
So, Lord Jesus, I would earnestly pray that I am on the side of open minds and welcoming hearts to Your truth. Today so much that has been held as truth for…well for millennia, is being questioned. It is being cast aside as old and out of date per our enlightened mindsets of today! May I see through the charades that sound so convincing. May I avoid getting on the wagon just because everyone else seems to be getting on. But I would also plead for the courage to stand for the truth and I ask for the love and patience that must accompany it. Daily draw me close to You, that I may follow Your ways…that I may hear clearly when You call. Amen.
July 8th, 2019, Mon, 9:11 pm