My Daily Pause

The Widow’s Mite – João Zeferino da Costa 1840-1916

Jesus talked a lot about money. (In fact the whole Bible does throughout the Old and New Testaments)

I think it is interesting that the account of the widow’s mite is the last recorded teaching Jesus made in public. (Luke 21:1-4) The timeline from this point leads quickly to his crucifixion.

Why would the widow’s giving be Jesus’ last words on how to please God?

Because her gift told us much about the proper attitude of a Christian. I can think of at least three reasons for us to give like her:

• It demonstrated trust in God – When we budget our giving, it needs to be at the top of the list. How can we say we trust God to provide when we pay our cable bill first and give him what is left over?
• It was sacrificial – The kind of heart God wants us to have is one willing to sacrifice for him. Our giving is not a sacrifice unless we actually sacrifice something.
• Presumably, it was cheerful – Since Jesus new her heart and still praised her gift, we can assume she gave in a cheerful manner. Who wants a gift that was only presented out of duty?

The kind of giving we see these days is nothing like the widow’s giving. The giving we see by philanthropists is often a spectacle. It certainly doesn’t cause any harm to the finances of the giver.

They should enjoy the praise of men while they can, because God will not give them any credit for it! (Matthew 6:2)

Those of us with more modest means have the ability to give so much more than they. It all starts with showing God a little trust.

We have a bad habit.

Without thinking about it, we have gotten good at hearing only what we want to hear.

Here’s a picture I drew as a joke:

Our habit of listening and repeating looks something like this

Jesus once quoted Psalm 110:1 to the Sadducees to make the same point. (Luke 20:41-44, Matthew 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37) How can the Christ be both David’s son and his Lord? Christ was calling them out because they were choosing ignorance of the scriptures for their own convenience.

In all three accounts, Jesus follows up the discussion with a warning about the Scribes. They had gotten a little too used to their lifestyle so they were ignoring God’s word and hoping it would go away.

Christians and non-Christians alike have carried that tradition all the way until now. If we spent more time with the Bible, we would not have so many various “truths.” By doing a better job of reasoning what the Scriptures say, we could all eventually come to the same conclusions.

Jesus never made any bones about it: we are responsible for all of God’s word. Sometimes we have to make hard decisions. Sometimes we have to relearn what we were once taught.

But … so many debates could be eliminated with everyone taking an honest approach to the Bible!

Challenge: Pick one typical day in your life and consider whether each action you take would harmonize with God’s word. If you don’t know, make a Bible study out of it.

Zacchaeus (Kristus og Zakæus) – 1913 – Niels Larsen Stevns 1864-1941

Jesus will look straight at you.

Just when you think he isn’t paying attention…
…that he will never have time for you…
…that you have gone too far…

…he will be there for you.

Unexpected Pleasure

Zacchaeus was a tax collector. He was very rich. He was likely very dignified. He was certainly very hated. (Luke 19:1-10)

He probably went his whole career believing that he would not benefit from the Messiah’s coming. The Pharisees had specifically excluded the publicans from association with them – so that was that.

Then, why would Zacchaeus go out of his way to see Jesus?

Maybe he heard about the publican named Matthew that was traveling with Jesus. Maybe the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector had made its way to him. (Luke 18:9-14)

Whatever it was, it caused him to seek Jesus.

Zacchaeus did exactly what Jesus taught us to do: Ask. Seek. Knock. (Matthew 7:7-12) Not only does he teach us to do that, but he means for us to keep doing it. The language in those verses is more like “keep on asking, seeking, and knocking”  – Even when the outcomes doesn’t look promising.

Climbing into that sycamore tree wasn’t very dignified. It might have been rather comical seeing that short man in business clothes scramble up a tree.

But it was the right attitude.

And Jesus saw him.

Expected Pleasure

Luke ends the account with Jesus saying, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

Just like Zacchaeus, we are not doomed unless we doom ourselves. Like Zacchaeus, we are only lost until we can be united with Christ.

And like Zacchaeus, that will happen when we take action to seek him and follow him and obey him.

If you feel like a Zacchaeus, go out of your way to find him today!

Pharisäer und Zöllner – Fresko (F3), Basilika Ottobeuren

How is your attitude?

Attitudes seem like they can fluctuate from day to day. That is more likely a reflection of mood than attitude.

Attitude is more of a long term disposition than a short term measure of how we feel. Our attitude controls whether we always find the negative in a situation or if we are able to find something to learn from it.

Pilots describe their aircraft’s position in the sky as its attitude. If it isn’t oriented just right relative to the horizon, then it will not fly efficiently. It might get to where it is going, but it will have used more fuel and suffered more wear and tear than normal.

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14) is the portrait of attitude.

“Lord, Look at me!’

Vs.

“Lord, I can’t bear for you to see me”

One has accomplished everything he can…

…and…

…one is growing by leaps and bounds.

Paul reminds us that no one is righteous (Romans 3:10) and everyone has sinned. (Romans 3:23) Yet many have an attitude that causes them to be like the Pharisee and totally miss that point. Even though his attitude makes his sin even more visible to us, he is totally blind to it himself!

Challenge: In Philippians 4:4-13, Paul lists a numbers of things that will change our attitude. Pick one of the things there that might need some improvement. What is it doing to your attitude and what could you accomplish if you changed it?

The Parable of the Unworthy Servant is a strong statement about our attitude toward serving God.

“…we have only done what was our duty.”

The Unworthy Servant passage makes me stop every time. (Luke 7:7-10)

The World

When it comes to passages to be worried about, this one is near the top of my list.

By the worldly benchmark, we are taught to finish a project, finish it to specs, and finish it within budget. The ones who do this well are promoted and given bonuses and praise.

We are programed to strive to reach the top and enjoy the rewards we have merited.

The Kingdom of God

That is not how the spiritual realm works though. We are told to be perfect, (Matthew 5:48) yet all have sinned and fallen short of perfect. (Romans 3:23)

When the subject comes up, I like to tell people that the Bible only teaches about one way to retire from God’s work. That is because our work is never done to perfection. The more mature among us have instructions to teach others and be leaders. There is no retirement age during our earthly stay!

We never reach the point where we merit indebtedness from God.

The Passage! How do I apply the Passage??

I have seen it taught that Luke (17:7-10) means we cannot get to heaven by doing only what God commands. That cannot be right, though. This is one of the first measures of love we show God. (John 14:15)

The passage is a warning not to get too cozy in our righteousness. Assuming we could get to the point of perfection, it would not a time to take it easy and expect godly accolades.

The point Jesus was driving home is that we are to remain humble servants, looking for what the Master needs from us next.

Question: What is your current goal in your service to God? What are you doing to reach it?