Lessons from the Widow's Mite: Mark 12: 41-44
Like so many of you I have been prone to thinking about what I would do if I were rich. I would buy this or that thing which I believe 'I must have.' But also, like many of you, I think of how nice it would be to help someone out at no cost to myself. What I mean is, I would love to pay off someone’s credit card debt without thinking about it. It would be amazing if I could pay for half of someone’s mission trip because their family could not afford it but wanted their child to serve a mission. Essentially, I would love to be in a financial position to where I could give away (to a good cause) thousands of dollars each month without thinking about it, or it impacting me. I even included something along those lines in my prayers before. I am not praying to become wealthy, although I would like to be, but I’ve prayed to be in a financial position to help people on a large scale, or with larger sums of money than my current modest salary affords. But that has since changed, and I will tell you the story of how that came to be.
I am no longer poor, although I have spent many adult years making no money or close to $12,000 a year. Now I have a stable job, and after a few years of working for them I make enough to support myself and my family. I am still not rich, but I can budget well enough and live below my means. I donate money where I can, but still think in the back of my mind, ‘I wish I had so much that I didn’t need to budget and think about how much charity I could give’. Now this is not a bad thought, it was not then, and it is not now, however, my thinking has changed, and I now believe there are better versions to this line of thinking.
One day I was talking with my friend, let us call him Jake – who himself makes a similar amount. We conversed on this very topic, about wealth, and charity, and all that good stuff. I told Dave how I would like to be wealthy enough to be able to help large amounts of people, or a few people with large amounts. He smiled at me and replied, “I used to think the same way. But then I realized that I need to do something about that now.”
“What do you mean?” I inquired.
“If I am trying to convince God that I will be charitable with large amounts of money later, and not have my heart set on wealth for wealth’s sake, then I need to start now. If I can show God, through my actions, that my heart is not set on money now, when it seems essential to me, then He will trust me to act responsibly later,” he said.
I could not argue with this, I just wish I had thought of it myself, but that is what friends are for. He then told me an experience he had about helping someone out. He said,
“I opened up Craigslist and was scrolling through when I found a post from a pregnant woman asking for help. I read her paragraph and she basically said she was a couple months out from delivering the baby, but did not have the funds for diapers, clothes, and baby wipes. Since she was asking for essentials, I figured I could help. I texted her and got some more information and said I would be able to stop by later with what I was able to buy for her. Once I got to the store, I tried to buy the biggest bulk items I could; it added up quickly. $400.00 later at the checkout I was feeling it. $400 dollars is a large purchase for me, more than I ever spend at a stores. I do not know any details about her situation, but I had a thought while I was considering my actions at the checkout, 'If I want to be able to do this when it is easy, I must be able to do it when it is hard'. A difficult thing promotes growth in my character and requires sacrifice. There would be no sacrifice if what were asked were easy. I got her a car seat, and huge packs of diapers, baby wipes, and some outfits for her newborn. I dropped them off to her and she was a bit shocked, but thankful. This act of charity stretched me because it was a significant amount of my monthly income, but ultimately worth the help it provided her."
We continued to talk and brought up the story of the widow’s mite. In that story many people with wealth gave large contributions, which are all good things, but a particular widow gave two mites, which is one farthing. Jesus pointed out that she had in fact given more than anyone else who gave. This is because everyone there gave what they could afford, their “abundance,” while she gave all that she had left. In this way, she made a greater sacrifice because she needed those two mites, while the wealthy could do without their donation.
The principle here is not that it is bad to be wealthy, nor is it bad for the wealthy to make large donations, nor is it that donating your abundance is bad. All these things are in fact good. It is good to be in a position to make large contributions, and it is good to give whatever you have leftover after you wisely budgeted. However, there is growth and blessings in making the sacrifice that is above and beyond, the sacrifice of the widow’s mite.
I began this piece by stating that I wanted to be in a position to easily give large amounts of money, and that is good, but there is a better way. My friend Jake taught me about not setting my heart on money; and the best way to ensure that my heart is not set on it when I have much of it, is to be generous now, while I have a modest amount. But there is still a better way. While both Dave and I focused on the ability to give our abundance (which is good), we both understood that we still have a ways to go to be willing to part with “all our living” as the widow did.
The gospel is one of progress and progression, it is not about where we start, it is about the direction we are moving, it is about the determination and dedication to choose the “next better way” that is before us. While each of us strive to make our way in this world, let us be mindful of offering helping hands and upwards lifts to those who need it. Position yourself to donate liberally to help those in need, but purify your heart so that if the day comes that the Lord asks for all your living, you will respond faithfully, “thy will be done.”
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