Give it All to Jesus

Mark 12:41-44 NLT

  41 Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. 

  43  Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. 44 For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

How much do we give to God? Those of us with much may give large sums of money, but do we give 'all?'  And some might say "it is unfair to compare a 'gazillionaire' who gives 'millions' with a pauper who gives just two pennies, though it is all she had?"  "Was the pauper going out to wait for death next or was she going to rely on the charity system of the temple to take dare of her?" "Could she really do anything with two pennies anyway?" Remember the rich man in Luke 18 23,who asked Jesus what he needed "to inherit eternal life?" After Jesus tested his commitment to righteousness and faith knowledge, He found the young man ready to be considered a candidate to be a disciple. Jesus invited him to 'sell all you have, give it to the poor, come follow me.'  The scripture has recorded for everyone to read these past two thousand years that "he went away 'very sad, for he was very rich.'  We never do learn if the young rich man was able to turn his wealth into blessing for the needy and come follow Jesus. He could have had a place in history along with John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Paul and the rest. But now all we know is that he was a rich young man whom it saddened to be asked to give God all his wealth.

Are we saddened to give it all to God? What if we were asked, what would we say? We like to say we would give it all to God but we do a fair amount of reserving it all for ourselves most of the time, I suspect. I can only pray and ask God that I would be as willing as this poor widow to toss all my resources into the offering to God as she was to toss her last two pennies. I can only pray that I would be able to trust God as she was, apparently willing to trust God for 'whatever' in His will.  We are very quick to sing "give it all, give it all to Jesus-- shattered dreams, wounded hearts, broken lives." We may not be so quick to meaningfully lift our hands in praise and sing "take my silver, and my gold, not a mite would I withhold." The Martyrs of Christ, throughout the history of the World, have sung the latter and done so with Joy. Let's pray today that we are able as they, to 'give it all to Jesus.

Your servant in Christ's Love

Dan Elliott

drdanelliott@gmail.com