“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.” (Luke 21:1-2 NIV)
The easy answer to how much you should give to God is all of it. When we put our faith in Jesus, go all in. Giving to God is more than money. We give to God with our hearts, our time, our priorities. Everything we do should be a reflection back to God of our love for Him. How much should you give to God? Everything!
How much should you give to God? Everything!
“So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.” (James 1:16-18 MSG)
All we have comes from God. When we give back to Him, we’re giving back what is already His. Malachi tells us we’re to give 10% of our wages to God (Malachi 3:10 NIV). The wealthy were giving their 10% out of the abundance they had, but not the widow. The widow gave more than 10%, she gave all she had:
“All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:4 NIV)
And Jesus knew the difference. He knew who was giving out of a show of their wealth, and who was giving out of love for Him. We aren’t just to give 10%, we’re to give our all for Jesus.
In this time of COVID19 we have an opportunity to give our all for Jesus. Not only in money, but in time and effort. We can encourage people through social media. We can send cards in the mail to encourage people. We can continue to give to our local churches that are trying desperately to minister to their communities. One way I’ve found to help is by donating to ThredUp. They are an online thrift store that will buy your gently used clothes and accessories. They will donate your proceeds to the Foodbank to help feed the hungry. There are a lot of hungry people in our world that need to be fed.
Now is the time to give all to Jesus. This morning on the news they highlighted a foodbank whose shelves were empty. The woman being interviewed summed it up well: “If you have 2 jars of peanut butter at home, give one away.” How much should you give to God? Everything!
Question of the Day:
What can you give to God today?
Further Reading: Joshua 24:1-33 NIV, Luke 21:1-28 NIV, Psalm 89:38-52 NIV, Proverbs 13:20-23 NIV
