The Widow’s Joules : The Principle of Proportion in Giving

There is a short passage in the 21^st 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

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.)

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