As Jesus looked up, He saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” He said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4
“You are wealthy and rich. Do you think that you can celebrate the Lord’s Supper, not at all considering the offering? Can you come to the Lord’s Supper without a sacrifice and yet take part of the sacrifice that the poor man has offered? Consider in the Gospel the widow who remembered the heavenly teachings, doing good despite the difficulties and limitations of poverty. For she cast into the treasury two small coins, which were all that she had.”
Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200 – 258) 5.480, as recounted by David W. Bercot in A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1998) 10.
Our team had a remarkable day in Panama yesterday, pictured above.
We had a great teaching time with PAAM ministry workers and an historic lunch meeting with the Panama Evangelical Alliance leaders. Today I am speaking at a gathering of generous givers.
They asked me to speak on generosity in times of crisis. I will give six points from the Apostle Paul’s correspondence related to the Jerusalem Collection for the famine-striken Jews. It was not a pandemic but it was a crisis.
I also plan to celebrate the only kind of giving Jesus celebrates: sacrifice. Pray for me as I remind them man looks at how much we give, and God looks at how much we keep and what it says about our hearts.
And next time you approach the Lord’s Table, imitate His sacrifice. Don’t come empty handed. In keeping with my word for this year, “remember” the teachings of Jesus. Give sacrificially and see what happens.