PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Mark 12:38-44
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“This poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.” (Mark 12:43)
Who are the well known christians of our day?
Who do people throng to see or hear, or to get an autograph from?
Our world has its celebrities, but so does the church!
But who does God celebrate, who does Jesus pay special attention to?
In this reading Jesus contrasts the religious leaders with this poor widow.
We notice the leaders, but Jesus notices the ones no one else sees.
We notice the pastors, the gifted musicians, the great teachers, the active members.
But do we miss how God is at work in those who don’t stand out or measure up?
Worse, do we write them off as less committed, less valuable to the church?
Every member of Jesus’s family matters to Jesus, he sees their hearts and lives.
He sees through the showy side of faith, to what really lives in the heart.
He calls ‘saints’ the ones the church does not; he sees me, even if no one else does.
As I’ve come to know struggling sinners in the church, I’ve discovered secret saints.
Despite less than showy success, there is a hidden holiness that is easily missed.
PRAYER
Lord, help me to see and celebrate the quiet, invisible saints among the sinners… the ones you see and know and love!
“but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
I believe we all need to recognize our poverty in the sight of God – we are vile sinners – disobedient – we owe Jesus everything – our all. The woman in this scripture recognized that and believed and lived her life in the hope of God – she gave to the temple because that was God’s house and she gave with her full heart – her very life depended on her faith in God. So do I need to know that! What am I without God? Holy Spirit continue to bless me your presence. May my heart stay devoted to you -even when I get distracted at times!
The widow gave all she had. She was giving unto the Lord. She placed her trust in the Lord that God would take care of her. And where do I place my trust? How is my giving? What do I give to the work of the church compared to my selfish desires? Do I place my trust in the Lord or what my hands can do? I need to give out of gratitude to kingdom causes enabling the work of Christ trusting that the Kird will take care of me.
1 Not what these hands have done
can save this guilty soul;
not what this toiling flesh has borne
can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do
can give me peace with God;
not all my prayers and sighs and tears
can bear my awful load.
2 Thy work alone, O Christ,
can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God, not mine,
O Lord, to Thee,
can rid me of the dark unrest,
and set my spirit free.
3 Thy grace alone, O God,
to me can pardon speak;
Thy pow’r alone, O Son of God,
can this sore bondage break.
I bless the Christ of God;
I rest on love divine;
and with unfalt’ring lip and heart,
I call this Savior mine.