giving

Will You Bake a Cake Today?

/ pastorpete51 / 12 Comments 
And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward, make some for yourself and your son. 
 1 Kings 17:13 NKJV

If you wonder how your small contribution in a world full of big problems will make a difference, you are not alone. When we are in trouble, like the woman in today’s verse, sometimes God comes to our aid in unexpected ways. Maybe that morning, when she saw Elijah coming up the road, she had hopes that He was coming to help her, but instead He came asking for her to do something for him. His request reminds me of our, “Junk mail.” People who we don’t even know, ask us for money for their important projects or needs, and they want us to respond right away! But why was God asking her to bake a cake for a stranger, when she was the one in need? That may seem strange, but sometimes God does the same for us. When we are too busy, He brings us a troubled neighbor. Will we give them a smile, a hug, or a word of encouragement, even when things in our own life seem to be falling apart? The things we give in those situations are the offerings that are most precious to God. Elijah didn’t ask her to bake him a cake, because of selfishness, but because he was following God’s instructions. In fact, Elijah might have felt ashamed to be begging from a widow and she might have been offended by his request. But as they both obeyed, God blessed them, and they both received not only food through the famine, but they also had their story recorded in God’s word, and it is still encouraging us after three thousand years! Remember that your story can encourage someone today. God just may ask you to give away something that you have saved for yourself. Are you willing to give what you have to others even when it seems so small? Are you ready to bake a cake today?

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Looking Beautiful to God

/ pastorpete51 / 9 Comments 
And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. Mark 12:42-43 ESV

When we want to know the worth of a precious stone, we take it to a jeweler who takes his magnifying glass and looks at its clarity and counts the facets. If we need to sell our home, we call an appraiser. When they get to our house, they check it inside and out to ascertain its market value. Standard practice is to value things according to their appearance. But God sees everything differently. In this story of the widow, the disciples were shocked that Jesus had said that she had given more than all the others. They had seen with their own two eyes, only two tiny copper coins fall from her hand into the offering box. They missed what Jesus had seen of her love, her sacrifice and faith.

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If we want to look beautiful to God, we must start by remembering that nothing we see on the outside is as it appears to Him. God looks at our actions and puts them under HIs heavenly jeweler’s magnifying glass. The appraiser of the universe examines our motives according to their eternal market value. Neither the amount of money we give or how often we volunteer at the soup kitchen impresses Him. What counts with Jesus is the clarity of our love and the weight of our faith. God gives all of us the same opportunity, that He gave the widow. It doesn’t matter what other people think of our offering, what counts is if we put it into the hand of God today!

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Watching Pennies

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And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. Mark 12:42-43 ESV

Last week we had just finished our Christmas caroling time at a nursing home and began to pass out some large print Christmas devotional books as our gift to the residents. Most of them lit up with smiles and thanked us for the book, but when one of our volunteers came to a table in the back, the lady reached out and slipped three one-dollar bills into their hand. Despite urging her that she didn’t need to pay for our gift, she insisted, “No please take it! I want to give something!”

That dear lady not only reminded me of the widow in today’s verse, but she also showed me that longing to give is a basic desire of every heart. Some of us, unfortunately, have had that desire dampened by people who have taken unfair advantage of us. But Jesus never mentioned anything about how well the two little coins she contributed, were spent. What mattered to Him, was that the love she gave with, made the gift precious. None of the rich guys who went ahead of her and made a big deal of their offerings had impressed Jesus. But the small sacrifice that she eagerly gave with a pure heart was a treasure to Him. That also reminded me that whether we have gold, frankincense and myrrh or just two pennies, God sees more than pennies, and He is watching our hearts today!