When we walk into Safeway and fill our cart with cereal and vegetables and chicken and frozen pizzas, we know how much we have to give before leaving the store. The tags on the shelves tell us, and if we don’t add them up as we go along, the scanner will when we check out. There’s not much doubt as to how much is going on our credit card before we walk out the doors.

How much do we give before walking out the doors of church on a Sunday? Or any offering for the Lord’s work any day for that matter?

In some ways the offerings and tithes of the Old Testament were a little easier. They were more set and determined. Bring your sacrifices at the proper times. Give your tithes when required. Participate in occasional special offerings. For the most part, then you’ve been faithful.

The New Testament is more open. The Old Testament ceremonies no . . . . longer apply, and neither does the tithing system. So we look to several principles in the New Testament books on how to give.

We can learn much from the widow’s offering in Mark 12:41-44. There are amounts there, not as rules, but as examples. The rich threw in “large amounts.” The widow gave two very small copper coins, which was everything she had.

That doesn’t help us if we’re looking for a quick amount or an exact percentage so we can get giving over and done with. God doesn’t let us off the hook with a simple number. He points us to the heart.

In the previous verses the teachers of the law walked around in flowing robes, looked for places of honor, somehow unethically grabbed the houses of widows, and then covered it all up with flowery prayers. In their hearts was greed, self-importance and deceit.

Then the rich offer their large amounts. That’s nice, but Jesus comments that they gave out of their wealth (v.44), implying it wasn’t a great sacrifice. Maybe their hearts were lacking in generosity.

The widow offered little, but offered all. In her heart was trust that God would care for her no matter what, and the simple, but deep, desire to give.

Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, we are called to examine our hearts in giving. Are we giving out of faith and trust and generosity, no matter what the amount is? What God looks for and commends is the attitude of the heart that is moved by the generosity of Christ to us.
 

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:43-44)