One time when I was living in the Florida Keys I went fishing with one of my friends from church. We were having a blast fishing the deep beautiful ocean and then out of the blue he asked me a very personal question. Our church had been raising money for a new building and an anonymous donor had been matching every dollar the congregation contributed, and it amounted to a rather large sum of money being amassed for the fund. My friend looked at me and came right out and asked me if indeed I was that anonymous donor.
I told him, “Consider if I were the anonymous donor, by the very connotation of the word ‘anonymous’, it would seem logical that I wouldn’t want to blab it all over the congregation, now would I?”
I went on to explain that the Bible instructs us to do our charitable works in secret, not letting the left hand know what the right hand does. I added, “Consider also that the Bible tells us not to lie. Now if in this situation, I was indeed the anonymous donor, I would be damned if I tell you because I am not supposed to trumpet my good works, or damned if I don’t admit to it and lie about it and commit that sin. As my friend, why would you want to put me in such a situation?”
My buddy was looking at me as if wanting more. I went on to say, “I always try to ascertain what Jesus would do when faced with a difficult situation like this one. I would assume that He would say that there are plenty of anonymous donors in our church. Each one of them is just as important as the other. In fact, it may surprise you to know the donor(s) that Jesus values the most are not the ones the congregation might value the most. A big deal is made about the amount of money given in the “matching” program of our church; however, there is an interesting story told by none other than Jesus about a very poor widow lady who put two “mites”, (the equivalent of each coin was approximately one eighth of a cent), into the temple treasury. Others put in larger sums and gave great gifts, but Jesus who observed the people’s giving, told His disciples that her offering was more than all of those who gave to the treasury, because the others gave out of the abundance of their wealth and she gave all that she had to the Lord.
I’m sure the members of the synagogue were plenty excited when some wealthy family put a huge sum into the treasury and everyone made a big deal about it, but Jesus, who sees the heart, treasured the poor widow woman’s contribution far more, and while the congregation exalted the large donors, God exalted the poor widow for her sacrificial donation of a quarter of a cent. You see God does not desire our money; He desires our obedience and love. All the world and all of the treasures within it already belong to Him. He has no need for anyone’s money.
In our church there are people baking cakes, washing cars, mowing lawns, and running miles with sponsors giving money for every mile they run in order to raise money. They did this so we can have a beautiful place to worship and lead others to salvation. Jesus is watching and His appreciation is not determined by the size of the donation, but the size of someone’s heart and love for Him. No one individual is a hero in our church’s building fund program. We all love the Lord with all of our hearts and just want to do what He wants us to do and are giving sacrificially from what we have to give.”
He said, “Well is it you?”
GEEZ! – I finally became agitated. I looked him in the eye and told him to just shut up and fish. Hmmm . . . I don’t think Jesus would have used that one, but it seemed to work.
My buddy remained quiet for about five minutes and then looked at me and stated, “Well if it is you man, I just want you to know that we really appreciate it.”
Arghhh!
Mark 12:43
So He called His disciples to HIMSELF and said to them,
“Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more
than all those who have given to the treasury;
for they all put in out of their abundance,
but she out of her poverty put in all that she had,
her whole livelihood.
March 7 2017 – Click here to listen