Faithful Giving:Breakfast with the Word Monday 34th Week Ordinary Time

Breakfast with the Word Monday 34th Week Ordinary Time Year B

 

Luke 21:1-4

 

 

Faithful giving is that willingness to offer anything to God. Faithful giving comes from inner conviction and decision. It is not a product of compulsion. This is when we offer a helping hand to anyone without having any other inordinate desire or intention.

 

Faithful giving is nothing but an honest and sincere offering to God. We do not do it to receive praises or to showcase how financially blessed we are.

 

It is a giving to God motivated by faith and sincere love of God. In Luke 19:8, after Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus, He promises Jesus to give half of His possession to the poor.

 

In Him, we can see someone who freely, cheerfully and faithful offer what He has. The widow’s offering today is a typical example of a faithful giving.

 

 

 

A Little Understanding

 

In the gospel, Jesus observes how some rich people are putting their huge offering into the temple treasury and hence comes a poverty-stricken widow who put only two coins. This single act touches the heart of Jesus because the widow gives all she had.

 

The money she gave was recorded as two mites or coins according to some interpretations. The value of this is just 1% of a denarius.

 

A denarius is one day’s wage of a normal worker. Hence the coin the widow gives is nothing but 1% of a day’s wage.

 

Hence, if this is all the woman has according to Jesus, it simply shows how extremely poor the widow is. And if she can despite her lack offer such to God, then it reveals how faithful she is to God.

 

An Attitude of Faith

 

This the highest act of faith; the ability to trust in God’s providence despite the magnitude of the lack.

 

It is like the faith of the little Isaac in Genesis 22 who believes the word of his father Abraham that God will provide even when there was no sign of the provision.

 

This episode hence advises us not to think twice if we willingly, wholeheartedly and without grudges decide to give.

 

There should be no grudges whenever we want to do anything for the sake of the love we have for God. Such acts always have a reward. Jesus’ statement in Matthew 6:1-3 about giving reveals that faithful and sincere giving go with a reward.

 

 

What it means to give Faithfully

1.It is that help we render without seeking for appreciation and recognition. Whether it comes or not, it does not affect us in any way because we know that God is our only motivation.

 

 

2. This is when we give or offer a helping hand knowing full well that God is watching whatever we do as Jesus does today. So we do it only to please God and not to make people sing our praises.

 

 

3. Despite that the widow hides her offering, Jesus knows not only what she gives, but her background and her means of living. Hence, Jesus knows the giver, the gift and the intention behind every gift we give.

 

The one that pleases Him is not those things we do for political reasons. They are not the ones we do so that people will sing our praises. They are those ones that truly and sincerely come from the heart.

 

 

4.This is when God is truly the motive behind the good things we do. We do not do them for the sake of becoming popular or that your people will give you an honorary title. They are not that help rendered to someone only for a selfish reason or in demand for another thing in return.

 

 

 

5. One special thing that touches Jesus is when we give despite the challenges and the difficulties. This is when we truly understand that God is above our challenges and can do anything despite the lack.

 

We do not need to count the challenges ahead if we truly decide in our hearts to help someone or offer anything to God. The gospel indicates that God appreciates even the little you can offer especially in the midst of problems. Truly there is power in giving.

 

 

 

6.Faithful giving is also the recognition that despite how poor we are, there is a single thing you can still offer to God. It can be a helping hand, encouragement, talent, time for someone, visiting the sick, solving a particular problem. It can also be money despite how little.

 

 

 

Sometimes it is not that we do not get even little, but many squander their resources more on frivolities than using it to help someone or support the church. A man squanders half a million just on drinks or to impress a friend, while there are many He can change their lives with it.

 

 

 

7. Sometimes our true problem is not that God is not providing our needs but we are unable to manage our resources very well. Faithful giving brings more blessings and pleases the heart of Jesus than whatever we do just to impress. Jesus says that whoever does this, has already received His reward. (Matthew 6:1-3).

 

 

 

May God bless you dearest and give us the grace to give from the heart. May he faithfully reward everything good you do. Amen

 

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