I’ve been there before & maybe you have too.
“I’ll give more when I make more.”
“I’d like to tithe & give an offering, but now’s not a good time for me financially.”
I was taught to be a giver from an early age by my grandparents.
Notice I write taught—it didn’t come easy or naturally to me.
The first time I remember giving an offering was at my grandparents’ United Methodist Church—I think I was about six-years-old.
Someone (probably my grandma) gave me $5 to put in the Sunday school offering bowl.
After I dropped it in, something inside my six-year-old mind said, “What are you doing?! That $5 is all you have! Now is not the time to be giving!”
After the offering bowl got passed & my $5 went it, I had “givers remorse.”
I asked the teacher if I could go to the bathroom, & on my way out, I picked through the offering bowl, grabbed my $5 & went down the hall.
As I stood in the bathroom washing my hands, I started to cry because I knew that money wasn’t mine & wasn’t meant for me…I put it back in the bowl on the way into class.
I love the story in the Bible of The Widow’s Offering (Mark 12.41-44; Luke 21.1-4).
As Jesus watches crowds of people bring in their offerings at the Temple, he pays special attention to the poor widow who gave two of the smallest coins in circulation at the time.
The coins she gave didn’t add up to much—each of them was worth about 1/64th of a day’s wages (think $2 total).
Jesus tells his disciples that something extraordinary just happened with those two small coins.
This woman gave everything she had to live on.
She knew that God would provide for her & that now was her time to give.
She could have made excuses about why now wasn’t a good time for her to give, but she didn’t.
She knew what I’m hoping to communicate to you in this post—now is >.
Now is the time to be generous & give, no matter how much or how little you have to offer.
Shawn Seeley's Blog 