Giving God Your Best

Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A t to say yes to generosity, to say yes to giving, to have an attitude towards giving that has been transformed by our gospel of Mark. We're told beginning in verse 41, Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. Notice it does not say what the people put into the treasury, but how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites which make a quadrants. So he called his disciples to himself. And he said to them, here comes the lesson, assuredly I say to you that this poor widow has put more in than all of those who have given to the treasury.

For they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood. Jesus watched the offering. He carefully observed the way that people were giving. In the courtyard of the temple, there were treasuries.

And they were actually shaped like large horns, something like a old Victrola record player that you may have seen. And when people would come in, they would put their coins in the treasury and it would make quite a bit of noise, certainly if you threw it in there in a certain way. And so people would come in and no self-respecting, dedicated Hebrew would ever come to the temple without an offering. And so Jesus sat there to observe. And the word when it says that he watched is the word theater. It was as if it were a theater for Christ. He gazed at the way people were giving. Now it is a fact that God is watching our every move in life.

Now that's a good thing. God is watching over us. There are no secrets with God. He knows what we are. He knows what we make. He knows what we give. And one day we will give a reckoning, an account for all of the resources in life.

We will settle up in eternity. And so it's important that we take a hard look at our faith as it is related to our finances. Do we use our possessions for God's purposes? Are we investing in those things which really matter? Because just as Jesus was watching the treasury that day, we believe that Jesus is present in our lives every day.