Devotion #21

CENTRAL TRUTH: Embracing faith requires a humble heart willing to sacrifice everything for Christ.

BIBLE PASSAGE: Luke 21:1-4

Since kindergarten, Linda Sue and I had been best friends. One Christmas when we were in middle school, I decided to buy Linda Sue a Madame Alexander doll and had saved my allowance for months. After purchasing it, I decided not to give the most beautiful doll I ever purchased to my best friend. So I kept it and gave Linda Sue something of less value, thought and care.

How could I have been so selfish? That question has plagued me with regret for years. But God was at work in my heart. He taught me that as I make decisions about everything in life, I can be selfish and keep it for me or I can share all I have and give back to God.

In today’s passage, Jesus heard the clamor and clink of offering from those who had much to give but only gave from comfort. But the widow who only had two coins gave it all.

As children, we learn to share. As believers, we learn to return to God a portion of what He has entrusted to us. I have often wrestled with giving all I have to God. Could I trust Him to the point I was dependent on Him to provide daily needs? The widow trusted God to provide for her long after her last coin was gone. What would God have me learn from her example?

If you have not done so yet, please open your Journey Guide to the corresponding devotion in the Reading Journal section. Journal your thoughts in response to the questions found there, spend some time in prayer, and take a couple of minutes to review this week's Memory Verse.

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Today's Author

Colette Rieck

My name is Colette Rieck. I am the Preschool Ministries Director for babies through kindergarten. For more than nine years, the children have called me “Miss” Colette. My southern son-in-law assures me being called Miss is the highest complement any woman can be given, regardless of her age or marital status. My husband Ken and I will soon celebrate 40 years of marriage. Only one of our three grown children moved to Iowa with us sixteen years ago, so most people do not know that we have two daughters, one who is married with two little girls, and a married son.

A little known fact about me is that I was a member of the local figure skating club during high school and skated in several ice shows.

Comments

[Tye Male]

Wow, what a great story Miss Colette! And you were a figure skater like Nadia!!! O my!

I really appreciated how you brought out the fact that we are all inclined toward selfishness, even in our giving.

I also wondered why Jesus would bring this to the disciple's attention and I think it is because he knew that in their hearts they would have favored the wealthy for their large gifts. We tend to become a "respecter of persons" don't we! I know I do.

Jesus wants us to give in direct proportion to how he has prospered us and steer clear of these dangerous comparisons that leave us unthankful for what God has given us! That is my challenge today.

[Lyndee Crow]

This widow's lesson is a strong one as it is so hard to give out of what you feel is already nothing. To trust God for your daily needs is something my parents drilled in me as we lived on faith as a family growing up, but as an adult with my own family, it is still hard to do this. Praise God that I KNOW He still is my Jehovah Jireh, my Provider.

[Robin Koskamp]

Yes Colette, that was a great story and something tells me that you aren't the only one to have ever done that.
As I have been seeking God as to what He wants me to surrender to him, it seems there isn't a verse or verses that He has led me to that doens't say something like, "give it all." Notice, I said "verses that He has led me to." Of course, I can lead myself to a few verses that will require less. I can go to several different passages and then convince myself that I'm only required to tithe...whew...what a relief! or is it? I have been told that in some passages in the Bible that "tithe" is more like 30%. Better be careful what passages I am leading myself to. In fact, I'd say that I better be careful if I find myself asking, "how much is enough?" I already know the answer and I believe that anytime that I find myself asking that question that I am only trying to weasel out of surrendering "everything" to Him.
Jesus paid it all. He gave everything. I know that my all...my everything will never be equivilent to His and He knows that too. When He tells me to love Him with All of my heart, with All of my soul, with All of my mind, and with All of my strength and I obey, then that's enough for Him. So...how much is enough?

[Mark Eades]

Great thoughts. I’ve been hearing the word ALL a lot and reading it a lot about ALL as well. I have a simple way of remembering what ALL means. Go ask any of the middle school kids here at NCBC what Pastor Mark's definition of ALL is and you will get this - "All means all and that is all that all means."

[Tye Male]

Ok, you can't go back and correct blog posts. Colette was an ice skater, and Nadia Comaneci was a gymnast. How about if I would have said an ice skater just like Dorothy Hamill.

I feel better now.

[Richard Kramer]

The Four-Dollar Miracle.
When I heard about this story of the poor widow’s sacrifice for the first time, I had just become a Christian at the age of 23. I struggled with the fact that she GAVE; she should have RECEIVED, the poor woman! After sacrificial giving was explained to me I discovered that I was in a very similar situation as the woman: daily hand–to-mouth struggles in an unforgiving environment.
When we were asked to give a donation for a good cause in the youth group I attended, I opened my wallet and gave all I had--four dollars. That was Sunday night. Monday morning I found a letter from “Anonymous” in my mailbox. It said that I would be in need of some money. The amount in the letter--four dollars. The postal date on which the letter was sent was BEFORE I had made the donation on Sunday. My thoughts—“interesting coincidence.”

Early the next week I found out the youth group was going to have a skating party on Saturday, but I had no skates. On Friday evening I walked by a pawnshop and saw a pair of beat-up skates in the window. When I asked for the price, I found it was four dollars. My thoughts—“What is going on here???” Needless to say, I joyfully bought the skates with the four dollars now in my pocket. At the Saturday skating party I met my future wife; we were soon happily married. How long? Forty years.

Sharing from my poverty was richly rewarded by the Lord, even though I had no clue what was going on at the time and had no expectations of any kind of a reward. God has proved faithful in many other ways over the years as I have responded in obedience to the prompting of His Spirit.

[Bob Westfall]

Wow, Richard! Isn't God absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing this story. Someone once said, "You can't outgive God." So true!

[RamonGustav]

Have you been turned down by other lenders?

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