LUKE - Giving All You've Got

I own a solid gold necklace. It is a beautiful piece of jewelry.

And it's heavy – literally!

The price of gold is currently around $1500 an ounce. So this necklace would definitely be, as they say, *worth its weight in gold!* It’s a treasure – and it would be quite a gift if I gave it away, wouldn't it?

Now what if I showed you two pennies – two tarnished, beat-up pennies? They've been sitting in a dish of spare change for who knows how long. They're not worth much. In fact, in today's economy, they're probably not even worth two cents!

Back in the day, they could buy something – a piece of candy or such. But now, the penny is so worthless, we don't even like having them rattling around in our pockets. Many stores have little trays where you can "take a penny, leave a penny." If you don't want your pennies with you, leave them.

So, giving away these two pennies wouldn’t be much of a gift, would it?

Today’s "Bible Pick ‘Ems" is a story about a woman who gave something away…

"While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. 'I tell you the truth,' Jesus said, 'this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.'" (Luke 21:1-4)

Jesus was in the area of the Temple called the Court of Women. In this area were seven boxes in which worshipers could deposit the Temple tax and six boxes for freewill offerings.It appears that Jesus continued watching the giving for some time, and He observed a number of wealthy persons making gifts.

This woman gave a freewill offering of two mites. At the time, a mite was the smallest of copper coins, normally equal to just 1/8 of a cent! Though it might seem that her offering was small, her gift was a sacrifice, for it was all that she had.

Today, I'm not going to talk about financial giving – I'd like to expand the story beyond the issue of money.

The question I would like to pose is this – What are you giving to God of YOURSELF?

The issue here is not that the woman had given more as to value and substance – but that she had cast in more in proportion to what she had.

Her gift was counted as more by Christ, and more highly valued and esteemed by Him, because Jesus – the One who sees the heart, and knows all things – knew that she had given FROM HER HEART.

Yes, my friends, the Lord desires no greater gift than the gift of yourself. He is to be loved with all your powers and capabilities. He doesn't want offerings – He wants you to KNOW Him and to LOVE Him.

Mark 12:29 sums up this greatest gift: "The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength."

Jesus uses the poor widow's offering to teach an important lesson.

A gift is not to be evaluated by its size, but by a comparison of the gift with the total possessed by the giver.

In the secret, innermost part of your heart, have you laid your life on the altar? Have you presented everything you have to Him?

May God help us to be like this faithful woman as we give our hearts in His name.

(Linked today with Charlotte and Ginger at Spiritual Sundays, and Peggy at Soaking On SONday. Please feel free to hop on over to my other blog during the week - Sharon Sharing God)

"When in doubt, search God out!"

LUKE - Accident Forgiveness

Weren't we all teenagers at some point in our lives?

Notice I'm not asking how long ago that was!

Did you ever do anything you felt REALLY bad about?

(OK, I better see every hand raised out there in Blog Land!!)

I can recall one incident so vividly, it’s like it happened last week.

My dad and uncle owned a business in Pasadena. And at some point in time, they decided that it was a good idea to lease two company cars – two brand-new 1970 Pontiac Firebirds. I'm pretty sure that this was my "hot shot" uncle's idea!

My dad's car was awesome!

One night, I needed to borrow a car to go to a church party. OK, I'm 16, the ink is barely dryon my driver's license, and my dad lets me use HIS car. He actually offered it to me!

I know!! Honestly, what was he thinking?!

After picking my jaw up off the floor, I graciously accepted…

"OK, Dad, if you insist."

I went to the party, and when it was over, a bunch of my friends and I thought it would be coolto drive over and see a boy that I had a secret crush on – because I was behind the wheel of a radically "hot" car.

We thought this was a great idea, because nothing screams "GOOD DECISION" like a car full of 16-year-old girls!

Anyway, we got to talking, got to flirting, and time ran away. When I finally headed home, my 11:00 PM curfew had disappeared in a teenage fog of…

Oh, he's so cute!

Do you think he likes me?

How's my hair look?

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.

OK, so now it’s like 1:00 in the morning, it's pouring rain, and I have to park the car in the garage. Our driveway was very steep, and Dad parked his car on the right-hand side of the garage, so you had to make kind of a sharp turn at the top of the driveway, just past a retaining wall.

You KNOW what's coming, don't you?

Yes, I made that turn, just a LITTLE early, and heard the most awful sound as "brand-new" Firebird met concrete block wall. Man, it still hurts today.

I tried backing up…SCRAPE.

I tried going forward…SCRAPE.

The car was sorta stuck on the wall.

In a panic, I finally just gunned the engine and the car leapt forward, almost piling intothe corner of the garage. I got the car parked, and looked at it. There was a huge dent, andmassive scratches right through the paint, all along the whole side of the car. OH MAN! I quietly entered the house so I wouldn’t disturb anyone's sleep…

OK, OK, yes…I was trying to sneak in! You guys are awful strict!

I was almost to my bedroom when I noticed my mom sitting alone in the dark, shivering with fever and chills, sicker than a dog with the flu, waiting up for me.

I didn't sleep much that night.

The next morning I got up early, bringing all $200 in my savings account, to confess to my dad what I had done to his car. He told me to keep my money – he would "take care of it."My dad didn't get mad, he didn't punish me – He forgave me.

Jesus told His disciples a similar principle about forgiveness, and it's found in today's "Bible Pick 'Ems":

"If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks for forgiveness, you must forgive." (Luke 17:3-4)

Jesus took forgiveness very seriously – it was His whole mission on earth.

Can we do any less?

"…and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us." (Matthew 6:12)

"'Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?'

'No, not seven times,’ Jesus replied, ‘but seventy times seven!'"

(Matthew 18:21-22)

(Linked today with Charlotte and Ginger at Spiritual Sundays, and Peggy at Super Sunday. Please feel free to hop on over to my other blog during the week - Sharon Sharing God)

"When in doubt, search God out!"