Mark12: 41-44 Jesus watched!

 (Mark 12:41-44)  Jesus watched 'how' they put their money in. People were aware of how much money someone gave to the temple in Jesus day. At That time the Jews believed the rich were rich because they were more righteous. The more money someone had, represented how close they were to God. Think about how the poor must have felt. Looked down upon by the rich. Shunned away. Despised. So when the time came for donations all the rich had another chance to show everyone how righteous and close to God they were. The bible says, and many rich people showed up. They showed up to show off. If you didn't have a certain amount of money, why even show up at all? Who would want everyone to see how poor you were? How unrighteous and far away from God you were? How many sins you must have committed in your life? I think Jesus knew the poor widow would show up too. And she did show up. She knew she would hear people snickering and rolling their eyes when she gave her two pennies. But God's ways are not our ways. God is always way ahead of us. Jesus opened their eyes to see things with a new perspective. The rich gave no sacrifice to God. The money given was out of their abundance and held no significance. The widow gave everything. What little she had she gave. Out of all that gave, who do you think God favored the most? Who paid the most at the end of the day? We don't follow God to get rich or blessed in life.  We follow Him because of the price He paid at Calvery for us. It Cost God Everything! God sees the effort and sacrifice we give in many different ways. We give because we're forever grateful for things He's done in our lives. You could say it's a labor of love. What we put into it is what we get out of it. But most of our blessings that matter with God are not material things. They're spiritual things. They're Kingdom things. They're eternal things. They're powerful things in the spirit world. We need more people with the spirit and attitude of the poor widow. She loved God enough to give everything she had. Everything she had was very little in the eyes of the world and the Pharisees. But what she gave impacted and touched God far above and with more significance in comparison to what the rich gave. We don't have to be poor or rich to have the level of commitment to God that she had. We just have to be willing to"pay" the price.