Hey Buddy, could you spare a dime? - Luke 21

Remember the saying for the depression, “Hey Buddy, could you spare a dime?” In our story it could say, “Hey Buddy, could you spare two mites?” Jesus had just warned the people about the covetous scribes who love to take the assets of the widows for their own. Upon saying this, there comes an old widow who happens to cast in two mites into the treasury at the Temple while the rich were casting in their gifts. Put this in our day and culture, a retiree comes in putting a couple of dollars into the offering plate without notice while great fanfare is made of the wealthy person who gives enough to have the Chapel renamed in their honor.

Jesus honors the faith of the widow saying that she had given more than them all. No doubt this surprised the disciples. “Lord, she only gave a couple of pennies; they gave thousands! How can you say that?” Easy my friends; “for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had” (Luke 21:4). She trusted God with everything she had while the rich were trusting God in their abundance.

How about you? At what level do you trust God? If you’re like me, it is in the abundance of what God has given us. This story does challenge us in our readiness to give financially and even sacrificially. However, I think that there’s more here than meets the eye. I think that we have two mites to give in other areas of our lives that are not financial. We all have two mites we can spare in the areas of time and talents where we are hesitant to give. Our excuses go something like this, “I’m not that good”, “Others can do it better than me”, or “I just don’t have the time, my favorite show is on that night”!

Hey Buddy, could you spare a dime? Hey Buddy, could you spare some time? Imagine the impact we can make for the gospel if we would resist the temptation to sit on the sidelines and actually gave of our time and talents. Your thoughts?