He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.3He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.’
If you pastor for long enough you know the widow. You see her Sunday by Sunday. You get a glimpse of her checks coming in faithfully week by week, month by month, and year by year. The amount of any one check is not impressive; but the amount year by year is. And so is the steadfastness. It's her consistency that stuns and honors and humbles.
Because I am her pastor I know what the widow gives up and does without. She still drives the same old car. She still lives in the same old house. She does not take lavish vacations. She lives meagerly; she walks humbly. She is a model faithfulness.
The widow will never have a building named after her. She will never be honored with an endowment in her name. She gave all her money to the church and because it's church we didn't trumpet it. We weren't willing to let the left hand know what the right hand was doing.
But there is one who does know. He knows. He sees. And one day, maybe not too far away, she'll receive her reward.
No comments:
Post a Comment