Claire L. Eva, Assistant Director, General Conference Stewardship Ministries
Summary: What is it that makes our small or large offerings of inestimable value to God? And further, what is it that gives significance to even the simplest of offerings? The editor of Dynamic Steward ponders these vital questions and gets to the heart of the matter!
She stretched out her small, dimpled fingers and said, “Here Mommy, this is for you.” Amy, our four-year-old daughter, was intrigued with her new ability to put letters together to form a few simple words. Neatly, on the outside of the blue marbled envelope was written: “ymA.”
I looked inside the wrapping to discover three copper pennies. “Thank you, darling!” I responded with joy. I’ll never forget her reply. “This is so you and Daddy will never be poor!”
Such a small offering; insignificant from the world’s standard, but of inestimable value to me. Did I keep that envelope? You bet! It is neatly placed in an album and I have saved it for some 29 years. But that’s not all. Someday it will be passed on to her children.
The value of an offering—a gift “offered” to a significant other—is not so much the actual monetary merit we give it, but rather the heart with which it is given. We are reminded of this in this issue of Dynamic Steward as we reflect on the New Testament stories of the widow’s mites and the sacrifices of the needy Macedonian believers. But we also consider the value of gifts or offerings of the wealthy, like Zachaeus. What is the common thread that holds the two kinds of givers together?
These individual offerings reflect the meaning in the words of the old hymn, “Blessed, Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.” When we see this with wide eyes of faith, our offerings flow from grateful hearts and are blessed and multiplied by God.
As we offer back what He has shared with us, we too can know that in the greater sense, we truly “will never be poor”!
