Are the offerings most blest!”
If ever there was an exception, or if ever one could be exempt, surely this widow would have been. She was in the weeds of widowhood; in the depths of poverty; in the extreme of want; with only “two mites” in the world and no bread for the morrow. Her own weary fingers her only means of living; with her earthly all in her hands she freely cast it into the treasury. Jesus was sitting where He saw it all. He who—
“Searched and tried the hearts” of men,
Saw what prompted every offering,
With His wondrous, God-like ken.
Did He stop her? He came to preach the gospel to the poor; did He tell her she was too poor to do as she had done? He brought all His apostles to witness the sight; did He say, “It shall not be so among you?” He was giving laws for His Kingdom for all generations; did He say, as He did in other cases where He intended any modification, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of olden times that ‘none should come before Me empty,’ but I say unto you, that whosoever is poor and needy shall bring no gift into mine house?” Did He say it, or anything like it? Can there ever be another occasion half so thrilling on which to say it?
The contrast between the rich and noble, the grand and lordly, who offered tithes of all their stores, and this shy and shrinking woman, in her garb of widowhood, is very striking. There is not a word of reflection on the gifts or the motives of the rich. “The rich and the poor meet together—the Lord is the maker of them all.” “No respecter of persons” is He. All honor to the rich who bring their treasures into the storehouse of God. All honor to the poor who make “their deep poverty abound unto the riches of their liberality.” May we not from this lesson draw illustrations of consecration?
God requires of every Christian a complete consecration of soul, body, time, talent, means, and everything else. Consecration means giving to God. When a thing is given away, ownership is transferred in the act of giving, or presenting from the giver to the receiver. In consecration the Christian gives himself literally to the Lord, and is henceforth not his own, but the Lord’s. This transaction must be as real as any in life, and divine ownership of all given to God must be recognized.
If we wholly consecrate our souls, our bodies, our time, our several abilities, then God can use us. The Holy Spirit dwelling in the soul will dictate to the eyes where to look, and what to look upon, that the soul may be enriched by seeing. He will direct the feet in paths of safety and usefulness. He will teach the hands to labor skillfully, laying up treasures in heaven. He will give the lips messages of love, comfort and sympathy to speak. He will direct us how to use our time, that the best possible results may be achieved for both God and man, and also for heaven and earth. When such consecration is made, and we recognize fully God’s supreme ownership, then we are in a condition to “bear much fruit.”
Few men would banish God from the universe. Too many worlds are wheeling in their orbits, and their orbits cross and recross each other too often to be left without a guiding hand. Moreover, the one we inhabit is the home of the earthquake and the volcano; hurricanes and tornadoes are born and bred on every continent and island; plague and pestilence ride on every breeze; death and destruction waste at noonday. In the presence of such dangers it is a comfort to know “the Lord reigneth.” But, alas! how many would banish God from their hearts! The clouds are the commissary trains of the nations; who would have them without their driver? Men want God on the throne, but not in their hearts. They would have Him watch the worlds, the clouds, the seasons, but not their actions. As if God was not a discerner of the very thoughts and intents of the heart.