Have you ever heard the phrase, “It’s the thought that counts?” It’s a rather common statement that you receive when someone has given you a gift that you’re not quite sure what to do with. Maybe it’s something that just doesn’t quite make sense; so you just grin and thank the individual. Maybe you can re-gift it to someone else later on down the line. But what if there was little to no thought put into the giving of the gift itself. We tend to focus on how one should receive a gift, why don’t we focus on how one should give a gift?

The motive, thought, and emotion behind giving a gift sets the tone for the offering itself. We’ve also heard the cliche phrase from scripture, “God loves a cheerful giver (2nd Corinthians 9)!” Perhaps we need to go a little deeper in this thought process. Because, in truth, we are perhaps missing an extremely important message that comes from Christ Himself.

There is a passage in the Gospel of Luke in which Jesus is in the temple. He observes the following; “As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Now, the common review of this observation is praise the widow for giving all she had, or at least giving from a place of devotion. The other common view is to merely challenge those wealthy givers who are not truly giving in a manner reflective of their devotion to God. But the story actually goes much deeper than that. Jesus is also critiquing the rich givers in this story because the widow should not have to give from a “place of poverty.”

It was Jewish law at this time that all widows and orphans receive assistance and support from the community. The wealthy were tasked by the law in supporting these persons as part of their service to God’s Kingdom. So, Jesus is not only observing wealthy people giving from a place of convenience, as opposed to devotion to God; He is also witnessing first hand this widow giving her means of survival while the rich around her ignore their responsibilities to support her.

Gifts are supposed to be a reflection of our love and devotion to the recipient. It is supposed to symbolize love, thought, understanding and appreciation. But all too often it is merely an afterthought or rushed scramble to not arrive “empty handed.” Just remember the feeling you had when someone gave you a gift-card to a place you would never actually visit. “It’s the thought that counts,” right? But that only applies if the person actually put some thought into the gift itself.

Fellow Christians, we must be wary and watchful in not only what we give, but how we give both to God and others. Our offerings on Sunday must be a true reflection of our faith in God. Our mission projects must, at their heart, have the furthering of God’s Kingdom at its forefront.

If not, we run the risk of merely being one of those wealthy deceivers that Jesus scoffed at in the temple. And woe be it to a person who tries to use their offerings to Christ as leverage for their own will within the church or community. Such is not a gift, it is an abomination before God and a tool of the enemy.

Let us be cheerful and devoted in not just what we give, but how we give. Such offerings will be able to rattle the pits of hell and open the gates of heaven. Because they are given in the same way Christ gave of himself for us.

Welcome to a new season of giving friends.

Pastor Mike

—

Pastor Mike McVey
Minister – First United Methodist Church, Fairfield TX
ACS Chaplain – United States Coast Guard, Station Galveston TX
Cell: 919-935-2513
Email: pastormike@fumcfairfield.org