Today's Passage: Luke 21

Giving is always a touchy subject.  How much money we have often decides how much freedom, stress, fun and respect we think we have.  This thinking however leads us to be overly focused on the apprehension and distribution of money.  We often feel that it is our earned right to decide how much of our money goes toward which aspects of our life.  The problem often hits us when we begin to realize that every cent that we earn is actually God's.  God chooses to bless us with a wage for our work where His plan for us is actually to serve others without condition and trust in Him for our needs. 

God helps us to understand this by asking that we give at least a tenth of our earnings to the church.  Likewise God also calls us periodically to give above and beyond this tenth, we call this an offering.  This is what the widow was giving in the first four verses of this chapter.  To show her trust in God she gave all she had, two copper coins.  Although these coins didn't amount to much in the worlds eyes they communicated total devotion to God on the part of the widow.

Ultimately this devotion is what God desires from us,  just look at the first commandment.  Money, although it can provide temporary peace and happiness, truly is a hindrance to putting God first in our lives.