8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8 (ESV)
1. The observation of our Lord
1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, Luke 21:1 (ESV)
5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others . . . Matthew 23:5 (ESV)
3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:3-4 (ESV)
1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. Psalm 139:1-4 (ESV)
2. An evaluation of the widow’s gift in relation to God’s economy
2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. Luke 21:2-3 (ESV)
10 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:10 (ESV)
3. An explanation of the evaluation in relation to God’s economy.
4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:4 (ESV)
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21 (ESV)
Kent Hughes:
First, when it comes to giving, the posture of our hearts makes all the difference. . . . 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:3 (ESV)
Secondly, giving that pleases God is giving that costs us. . . 2 Samuel 24:24 (ESV)
Thirdly, God can do great things with tiny offerings.
Fourthly, at the Judgment, Christ will square his accounts . . . 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
1 Corinthians 3:11-14 (ESV)
Fifthly, God is sublimely “equal opportunity.” . . . 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 (ESV)