Wealth in Christ...

"They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on." -Mark 12:44

If you are like me, you've heard a plethora of sermons on this particular story. It's the story of the poor widow who gave a few cents for offering; all the while, many rich people were also giving their offerings. Well, what was the difference?

The widow was giving all she had; the others were giving their instructed portions.

Now, what's the issue here? There are many places in the Bible that talk about tithing, giving to the poor, rendering what is God's, and what not. With that being said, I had always looked over the importance of this verse by focusing on the fact that all were giving. Isn't that what matters? I mean, as long as I'm giving what I ought to, I should be covered, right?

Maybe I'm the only one that missed this, but really that's not the point. I guess one could say that the others pale in comparison to the widow who gave all, but that's not the point of the story either. Really, the point is that the widow found her wealth in Christ. Even though she only had a few cents to her name, she gave every one of them. She didn't just give 10 percent of it. She gave it all, because it didn't compare to her investment in Christ.

The others weren't necessarily wrong for not giving all they had, and we don't know each and every one of their stories. What we do know is that Jesus regarded the widow's offering as "more," because she completely trusted Christ with her life and her finances.

We have to trust and understand that God has everything under control. We are never truly surrendering to His calling until we simply do rather than debating on what is "safe and secure" for our lives.

I am praying today that each of us would focus more on finding our wealth and security in Christ rather than our paychecks.