“And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:” Mark 12:41-43

If you had the privilege of growing up going to Sunday School, at one time or another you heard the story of the poor widow and her two mites. It’s usually told to encourage us to trust God even in our hardest times or as a testimony of the generosity and commitment of an unfortunate woman. There is truth found from this passage that echoes the virtue of both of those points, but if we only focus on the actions of the poor widow, we can miss the heart of the Master concerning material resources.

Did you ever take time to notice what Jesus was doing that allowed him to comment on the widow’s actions? He was purposely watching what people, rich and poor, were putting in the offering! What? Yeah, that’s what the Bible says he was doing!

Think about if he had the audacity to do that today in some of the churches in our area. He’d be called a money-grubbing scam artist quicker than the back row can get to their cars after Sunday morning service.

It’s after reading passages like these that I wonder how wrong we have our character profile of Jesus. This I know: if we aren’t taking our ideas about Jesus from the Bible’s testimony of him, we aren’t getting the true picture of who he is.

So, what was Jesus doing paying so close attention as to even notice the amount of money people were putting into the offering that day? Better question is, why was he doing it?

Well, evidently it mattered to Jesus, and if it mattered to Jesus that means it mattered to his Father. Right? Here’s a truth that the stingy don’t want to hear: material things matter to God, at least in regard to what His children do with them. God does pay attention to what we do with money; that’s a Scriptural fact. But why?

When you piece together the lessons of the Lord about money you can see several reasons. One that many overlook is that what we do with money and the material resources it provides can allow Him to move in our lives to a greater degree. Why does God care about how generous we are? Because our generosity gives Him the opportunity to move deeper into our hearts and more completely in our lives.

Last week we saw Biblical evidence for God’s reaction to a man’s consistent generosity. Cornelius and his household were chosen to be the first Gentile converts to Christ, in large part because of their generosity to others. Don’t get it wrong. Let’s not think that his giving bought this honor; it didn’t. You can’t buy things from God. Cornelius’ heart in this matter got God’s attention and opened a door of faith for him. His giving got God’s attention, just as the widow’s giving got Jesus’ attention. There’s just no doubt about it.

Listen, I fully realize that the idea that giving of material things, like money, can in a sense “move” God on our behalf has been abused by unscrupulous men and women through the years and into modern times. It’s a shame and has caused much hurt. With that said, we can’t allow the dishonesty of the few to dissuade us from the greater blessing behind generosity. It is more blessed to give than receive for a variety of reasons, and one of those is because it can be an action of trust in Him that allows Him to move in our lives.

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.