HEAVEN'S MATH
Luke 21: 1-4 NKJV
And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”
One thing we learn from reading Scripture is that God's perspective is different. In Isaiah 55:8-9 the Lord declares through the prophet that His thoughts and ways are not like ours. That God's thoughts and ways are higher, like heavens above the earth higher. So when we see Jesus looking at the offerings, it should come as no surprise that He does math differently.
Jesus saw the rich putting in large amounts. In that day, there were no checks or online gifts. The offerings were in the form of coins. No folding money in Jesus' day. So, if a rich man was bringing a large gift, it was most likely a bag of coins. Big bags meant big money.
A poor widow put in two mites. These were very small copper coins and not worth very much. And yet Jesus said she put in more than anyone else. Fortunately, Jesus explained His reasoning. The rich put in out of their abundance. They had margins with their money and gave from the margins. They still had plenty left after giving their offerings. Jesus was not critical of their offerings. He was not condemning them for giving out of their abundance. He did not disqualify their gifts and imply that they never should have given. Jesus was merely making a comparison using Heaven's math.
Because this poor widow gave everything she had, she gave more. She gave 100% of her money. Even though the amount was small, the percentage was huge, and Jesus was gauging from the percentage. So, in light of Heaven's math, if someone has 100,000 dollars and gives 20,000 dollars in an offering they have given more than the person with one million dollars who gave 50,000. One person gave 20% of their money, and the other gave 5%. And since it's a percentage of what someone has that the Lord counts, the person giving 20k gave more.
A couple of things to note. Jesus paid attention to what people gave, and He has not changed. Our giving does not go unnoticed by Him. And Jesus did not return the money to the widow. He did not stop her from honoring God with her funds. And because, from God's perspective, the percentages are what matter most, we have no way of knowing who the biggest givers are. We may see the large money amounts, but we don't know if someone was giving from their abundance or their lack of money. What's crazy is that at a church the size of The Ark, the biggest giver may be a poor widow. Only Heaven knows.
PRAYER
Lord, thank You that You see differently. I can be someone You regard as a big giver despite my income. And thank You that I am not judged by the amount but by the percentage. You are a totally fair God!