The depth of YHWH’s Word is unsearchable. Its layers of wisdom spiral toward the endlessness of eternity. I’ve always considered the passage of scripture about the poor widow from its surface level regarding a monetary gift. However, in this season, it pricks my heart in a new way.

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. For they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” Mark 13:43-44

Messiah told His disciples that the widow gave out of her poverty. Based on the meager amount of her alms, she undoubtedly suffered true physical poverty. Yet, Yeshua says there’s another type of poverty that we must suffer from in order to acquire our share in the inheritance of His Father’s Kingdom:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

You see, there is no good in us apart from Him. None. The very best among us is wretchedly spiritually destitute and in need of a Savior. Until a man perceives his need in this way, his sight remains dim and he lacks in understanding.

It would seem the widow who gave at liberty from what little she had understood her desperate need of a Savior. To be poor in funds is a temporary condition; to be poor in spirit has eternal purpose. In truth, we can give every dollar we ever make to the poor and still withhold parts of our heart and life from our Father.

Consider the missionary who travels land and sea to carry the Good News to distant lands but silently struggles with addiction or the worship leader who battles an all-consuming spirit of lust. There’s no address in the scriptures for the verse that says we are to follow Him most-heartedly. He knows full well when we quietly attempt to reserve just an ounce or two of our flesh (or heart) for ourselves.

The wise widow didn’t just give all her money to the poor when she gave her “livelihood.” She offered all she truly had to the Heavenly Father. When she gave all she had, she didn’t simply empty her purse, she emptied herself – her wants, her desires, her will, her right to self, her fears, her doubts, her worry about where her provision or even her next meal would come from. The poor widow emptied her whole heart and her whole life into that temple treasury box that day.

The widow’s abundance didn’t come in financial form and her riches were not stored up in this place. She loosened her grip on the temporal so she might grab hold of that which is eternal. It has been my desire to learn to loosen my grip and surrender my heart wholly for the honor and glory of our Father. I’m still working on it, but I can’t tell you the wealth of peace I’ve found in this endeavor. 

“He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39

 

 

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Cassandre Rosenbum
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