Put in Your Two Cents | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Put in Your Two Cents | Previous Challenge Entry
By John Esposito
10/07/15
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Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” - Mark 12:43-44NIV

Have you ever just sat in church and looked around the sanctuary and asked yourself, how many of these people get this? Do they really understand all of this or are they just going through the motions?

This frightens me. It also frightens me to think whether or not they’re thinking the same thing about me. Am I sharing everything that God has given me with them and them with me?

The collection plate to me is only one part of it. There is so much more that we collect from people that no one really thinks about. Yes, the finances of the church are important, but I think the workings of the church are just as important, if not more important.

I used to work with someone who always said everything was twenty-four twenty. Whenever anyone asked him how it was going, his response would always be, “Its all twenty-four twenty.”

So I asked him one day what that meant. He told me that twenty-four twenty was his vision and that it’s all good and that he could see everything clearly.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all see clearly? Never having to worry about whether someone is going to see how much or how little we put into the collection plate.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all come together where no one has a particular place in the circle of life? A place where we can all come together without any fears or expectations; there will always be leaders and followers, but we would all be equals.

Think about all of the Sunday school teachers out there preparing for their classes after helping their own children with their homework.

The ones that get down on their hands and knees the scrub around the church toilets and clean the grape juice stained carpets instead of just mopping and vacuuming.

All of the folks that put together our monthly pasta dinners. Not only are they setting the table for us to break bread together, but they are also setting the example for us.

A few years ago I was really busy doing things through the church, for the church, and with the church. And our pastor at the time came up to me during coffee hour and said, “Espo I’m worried about you, you’re burning the candle at both ends.”

That was nice, and for a split second she was Jesus and I was the old woman. She recognized that not only was I putting coins into the plate, but also everything that I have and I will never forget that.

The cool part about all this of is that no matter how many hours you have put into something or how tired you are of doing the same things over and over again is this. The Lord is with you every step of the way.

He is telling us that the time that we share with one another is important. That the revolving door that keeps pushing us into the lobby of fellowship will someday have us upstairs standing in the Master Suite.

So what does this tell us? It tells us that everything above is done by volunteers. They do it for their church, they do it for their community, and they do it for their God. There may be expenses, but it costs nothing to run the church.

All it really costs is your faith. You have two choices. You can spend your faith wisely now or you can risk your faith costing you in the end.

Jesus called His disciples over. He wanted them to know that it didn’t matter who you were or how much you had. He wanted them to understand how important it was and is to give everything you have to continue His ministry.

While you’re reading this today and thinking to yourselves maybe things are not as clear as you thought. May I suggest that you make an appointment with your pastor and then with your Optometrist. And when your appointment book is finally cleared, I promise you that everything will all be twenty-four twenty. And God will shower us with His grace and fill us with His holy zest.

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