HAVE YOU HAD A HEART CHECK UP LATELY?
Mark 12:41-44 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on.”
I never preached much on giving, because I figured if the people really love Jesus and appreciated his great sacrifice for him they would give generously. I would much sooner preach on how wonderful the Lord is. At the same time I realize how important it is to help the people realize how important it is for them to give. Our giving really reveals a lot about what we value, what we trust in and what we really believe. Sometimes the clergy would joke about how you could tell if a new Christian really loved Jesus by the way they held on to their wallet when they were baptized. Of course people always took their wallet out of their paints before getting into the water, so their wouldn’t ruin it. But it was obvious for some people they needed to baptize it too, because their wealth was what they really wanted out of life. They wanted to get it and keep it.
One day as Jesus was walking a young man came up to him and asked what he must to inherit eternal life. Jesus reminded him of the commandments, and the man said that he had obeyed them since his youth. It says that Jesus loved him. I am sure Jesus knew and appreciated the young man’s commitment to the law of God, but Jesus was about to expose who the young man’s god really was. Jesus told him that he lacked one thing and that was to sell all he had and give the money to the poor and then come follow him. It says that the young man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he didn’t want to give up his wealth. He said he valued eternal life in heaven, but the real truth was what he valued most was his wealth. His power, security, purpose, pleasure and his worth was measured in his wealth. This young man had an opportunity to be one of Jesus’ disciples and be blessed a hundred times as much as he gave up for Jesus here on earth as well as in heaven. It wasn’t the money, but the love of his wealth that was the deciding factor.
As long as we can feel secure in what we have, we will not trust in what we do not have. Trusting the Lord is crucial in our love for the Lord. If we don’t think we can trust in the Lord we will not love him or obey him. Look at Adam and Eve. They had every reason to trust the Lord, but after listening to Satan they believe that God didn’t have their best interest in mind for them. Consequently they rebelled from the Lord and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The level of our giving reveals our level of trust and our trust exposes our level of love. The Lord demanded of the Jews to give of their first fruits. Why this was important was the fact that they might not get another harvest. As with the rich giving at the temple, it doesn’t take much faith or trust to give a little out of your abundance. Where real trust and faith is seen is giving when you don’t know if you will have any more.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. Without faith in our giving says not only we don’t trust God, but that we don’t think God really loves us as much as our faith in him demands. This is why God loves a cheerful giver. God sees our gifts as faith or trust in him that says, “I believe that God is going to take care of me!” This is why Jesus tells us in Luke 6:38, “Give and it shall be given to you good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over into your lap. For the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” In other words as much as you trust me, the more I will reward you. God even challenges us to this in Malachi 3:8-11. He cries out to us, “Test me in this!”
God is not afraid to have us test him our giving as if he can not repay us many times over for what we have given to him. God doesn’t need our money or anything else. We don’t need to test God. The testing comes on our side of the offering tray! What we give to the Lord really says a lot about our relationship with him.
Do you really believe that you can trust God to provide for your need and even your hearts desires? If you put him first in your life he promises this.
(Psalm 37:4) If you can’t trust the Lord with your wealth or lack of it, how can you say you really trust him for the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life in heaven? In reality our trust in our giving is really all about our heart. Our giving or the lack of really shows us how much we love and trust Jesus. When our son Joshua gave me this web site for Christmas he already had it name and had 500 business cards made for me. He gave it the perfect name. As you know from it’s heading it is “Pulse Check”. Joshua knew our relationship with Jesus is all about our heart. Have you had a heart check up lately? It really could be the difference between life and death, eternal life in heaven or eternity in hell!
Prayer: Holy Spirit, sometimes we can fool ourselves into thinking things are just fine when in reality they are not. Please never stop perfecting us into being all that Jesus would want us to be. Please help us to be an inspiration and blessing to others that they too will want to be a blessing to Jesus too. We ask this in Jesus’ holy name.
