There is a short passage in the 21st
chapter of Luke where Jesus observes the people giving their monetary offerings
in the Jewish Temple.
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." Luke 21:1-4
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He uses this opportunity to teach His
disciples an important principle of God – the principle of proportion, as I
like to prefer to it. Although the rich
gave a large quantity and the widow gave a tiny quantity ( a mite is equivalent
to 1/5 of a cent!) , He gives the greater honour to the widow.
Why? Because in proportion to what the
rich had they gave some but in proportion to what the widow had she gave ALL. The
Lord goes so far as to say that what she gave was more than all the others
combined. Not in a mathematical sense of course, but in a spiritual one.
As Dr. Warren Weirsbe notes:
“Men see what is
given, but God sees what is left, and by that He measures the gift and the
condition of our hearts.”
Ahh God looks on the heart – how refreshing,
how comforting …and how convicting.
Now I don’t take this to mean that we
should all give every cent we have away or that God wants all of our finances
(although some may be called to that) -
but rather, God wants all of our hearts! Nothing should be withheld from Him in
our hearts. At the end of the day God does not need our paltry sum of money, He
wants our heart and every last bit of it.
So you may be wondering why the title
says “Joules” instead of jewels or money. It is because what we have to give to
God includes not just money, but time, energy and other things as well. And as
you may have guessed I want to now focus on the area of “energy” - which (scientifically) is measured in the
unit of Joules.
The reason I want to talk about giving of energy is because
it is a topic close to my heart. Energy or “work” is sometimes a difficult
thing to measure so far as how much someone has or does not have… what proportion
is given and what proportion is left behind as Weirsbe would say.
My mother has Multiple Sclerosis , a disease where one’s own
immune system attacks a substance in the body called myelin which in turn
affects the ability of the nerves cells of the brain and spinal cord to
communicate properly. This manifests
itself in many types of symptoms both cognitively and physically – and it takes
a real toll on one’s energy level.
Mom finds it very difficult to do even the most routine
things she used to be able to do when younger. As you can imagine this can be intensely
frustrating and that is only exacerbated by the fact that it is hard for others
to understand , and compared to something more obvious like a broken leg, is
next to impossible to literally see.
But God sees - and He knows the proportion of her energy that she gives to His work (maybe you have been blessed with some of her cards, bookmarks or other handmade items with the word of God emblazoned on them.)
But God sees - and He knows the proportion of her energy that she gives to His work (maybe you have been blessed with some of her cards, bookmarks or other handmade items with the word of God emblazoned on them.)
I also have an “invisible” disease so to speak. Clinical
Depression and severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder make even the simplest of
things intensely difficult for me. And what
I find to be one of the most frustrating things is that I cannot easily explain
to the people I love why I am unable to do something that I would normally do
in a heartbeat – go to an event, take on leadership or responsibility, commit
to something.
I want to be clear that this article is not about a pity
party. It is about helping us all understand ourselves and each other better. It
is about finding comfort in the fact that God knows our heart and what we want
to do for Him and it is about being much slower to judge others and their
apparent lack of __________ (fill in the blank).
To paraphrase something I once heard on the T.V. program, “The
Doctors” :
“Laziness is a character flaw; Lethargy is a medical
condition”
And we need to know the difference!
Not long ago I had to have a difficult conversation with a
former boss of mine. I had recently been
promoted to a management position and soon found that I was unable to sustain
the stress and “psychological energy” that it called for. She was very gracious
and understanding and I was, in effect, apologizing for being so “weak” and “lazy” and
“incapable” all the while trying to explain a bit about my disease and the
validity of it. I’ll never forget what she said to me – she said “Joe, you can
tell the people who are sincere and for real from the phonies a mile away.”
She was looking on the heart there…. Just as God does and it
was very comforting to me in a very difficult time.
So let us learn to distinguish between things like laziness
and lethargy, phoniness and sincerity, a
couple of cents given with sacrifice and 6 figures given simply for a tax
credit…
And, metaphorically speaking, Let us ask God to “give us His
eyes” and see as He does.
“But the LORD said to
Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because
I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the
outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7
