All About Attitude

All about Attitude

Read: Mark 12:41-44

“This poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.”

Mark 12:43

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”

—Amy Carmichael

IN WORD With service in the kingdom of God, attitude is everything. What attitudes are behind our gifts? What attitudes are pleasing to God?

We often think we have fulfilled God’s requirements in our service for Him. We may read the Bible for half an hour each day, feel as if we’ve eaten our spiritual vegetables, and then move on to more interesting things. Or we may give our 10 percent when the offering plate passes by, glad to have our monthly obligation out of the way before spending the rest on the things we really want. And we may teach a Sunday school class or help out in a soup kitchen as a means of putting in time for the kingdom, savoring our remaining hours as time to pursue our own desires. We can easily be satisfied with fulfilling our duties.

But God much prefers acts of love to acts of duty. The widow in this story didn’t have to give as much as she gave. There is no law of God that demanded at least those two coins. Even one of those coins would have been a high percentage of her income. Why did she give more? Her heart was filled with love for God’s work. Jesus’ comments were not necessarily about giving more, but about giving rightly. It wasn’t an issue of quantity. It was an issue of motive.

IN DEED Even if we gave 90 percent of our income, our time, and our effort for the kingdom of God, it would not be enough for Jesus if there were no love in it. It may be better to fulfill our responsibilities as Christians than not to fulfill them at all; but the kingdom of God is not primarily about fulfilling responsibilities. It is more about expressing gratitude and about being passionate for His glory. When we bring God our offerings—whatever they are—we must come with a genuine desire to give them. We must offer them because we love God and we desire to see His kingdom come. And we must give them in thankfulness that He, by example, knows a lot about lovingly giving it all.