dec 20

Luke 21:1-4
1 While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box.
2 Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.
3 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them.
4 For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

You're walking alone down a dark, deserted street. Suddenly a dark form appears, seemingly out of nowhere, and points a gun at you. "Hands up!" he says, in a gravelly voice. His face is hidden behind a ski mask. You lift your hands in the air. Your eyes focus on the barrel of the pistol. "Don't shoot," you say. "I'll give you all my money, just don't shoot!" "Money?" the robber says. "Who said anything about money?" You lift your eyes to the man's face. "You don't want my money?" "No!" the man says. "I want your shoestrings!" You're sure you must have heard wrong. "I'm sorry. What did you say?" you ask. "Your shoestrings!" the man barks, waving the gun around in the air to indicate his impatience. "I want your shoestrings. Now, take 'em outta your shoes and hand 'em over . . . that's right. . . slow and easy like." You untie your shoelaces and hand them to the robber, who snatches them from your hand and runs down the street, laughing and leaping in the air. "I'm rich, I'm rich!" he shouts. "Do you hear me? I'm rich!" Yeah, right, you say. That's gonna happen. OK, so it is a little absurd. A command like "Hand over your shoestrings" sounds silly. Why? Because it reveals that the robber places an inordinate value on shoestrings. His words reveal his values. Most robbers value money more than shoestrings; that's why they say, "Give me your wallet," or "Hand over the loot!" A person's words especially his or her commands often reveal what that person values. The same thing is true of God. God commands us to be generous. "Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land" (Deuteronomy 15:11, NIV). God's commands show that he values generosity. That's why Jesus praised the poor widow who gave two tiny coins as an offering in the temple: because she was being really generous. Generosity is something God thinks is really, really valuable. And if he likes generosity so much, shouldn't we like it (and practice it), too?

REFLECT: Do you value generosity? Do your words show that you value generosity? Why or why not? Do your actions show that you value generosity? Why or why not?

ACT: Be alert for any opportunity today to show others that you value generosity.

PRAY: "God, this is the day I'm going to be generous in the way I act toward"

the first thing that came into mind when i read the verse was the quality vs quantity ideal. you could give away your iphone and lose all the access to social networking and texts from your friends, and a poor person can give away their dirty clothes and lose another piece of clothing that they need to survive in the winter. of course an iphone is worth more than the dirty clothes, but the dirty clothes is more valuable to the person than the iphone to you. i know that we have all this fancy shmancy phones and androids that are worth a lot out of our pockets, but its not like you cant live without it physically. God treasures the sacrifices and offerings that are from the true heart, and really we should be stepping out of our comfort zone and giving until it hurts. God will always give back and give back something more than what you have given. in the end, it is all worth it.

sorry guys, i'm a little braindead today and i can't focus on things for a long period of time.

i'll get back to re-reading this tomorrow.
yeah, sorry/

Pretty much got the same message as Christine.

But this devo did remind me of the quote, "One man's trash might be another man's treasure."

Something little could mean so much to a person who has little. To some people, it may not be a big deal because they have access to everything and they tend to ignore the small things.
Also, I realized people who have little are more generous than those who have a lot. I'd say the cause of it is all greed.

That story of the widow who literally gave her last bit of money really proves the priorities God has set. Our offering isn't meant to be something we can afford to give away. In fact, how much we actually give doesn't actually matter. It is how much value behind what we give that matters the most. If we really proclaim to be giving God our all, we really should be sacrificing things that we wish we could keep, in the name of telling God that all we are is His. So whether its being generous or giving offering, keep in mind that it is most meaningful when we give our heart along with however much of whatever we are giving.

Exhausting week this week.. craaaxzy

4 For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

this meant to me that it doesnt matter how much we give. it matters about how much AND how we give. quality over quantity. giving your 100% rather than 10% or less
like for example a rich man can give $1 000 000 and that can only be like 5% of his $$ while a poor man will give $50 and that will be 100% of his earnings
God will value the poor man over the richer because he gave more according to his earnings.

Money does not last forever, but your heart is what really matters.
I love that story in the bible. People who do things purposefully for praise and reputation. What really matters to god is not how much money you toss in the offering box every week, but the effort you've put for god. That woman in the story put very little worth of money. But in gods eyes, the woman's heart was more of value than the rich.

it's not how much we give in ammount, it's how much we give through the heart.
~Audrey~

I value generosity dearly but i do not like it when people are toooooooo generous... especially to me. For example if all they do is give give give... you feel like you have to repay them back somehow even though they dont ask you.
When people show generosity towards me, its always hard to say thank you to people that are close to you... but to those you are distant with, its easy to say thank you to. I really dont understand that.
I am generous with things that i have most of but when it comes to thigns that i have limited amounts of, i keep it to myself.
This is a bad habit because i know that God will always repay me back and give me my every need as long as i show my generosity to others.

Ugh this is one of my FAVOURITE bible passages!
A lot of my life, I thought, nothing I do will be enough for God because I can't really make drastic changes around me.
Then I heard this passage.
It shows that while you may not have much, giving the little that you have to God and using it for God's glory, is what matters.

Quality or quantity, in a way.

It's about being humble and being showing God the faith you have in him!