We can learn much about sacrificial giving from the account of the widow's mite in Luke 21:1-4 and Mark 12:41-44. The widow's mite teaches that giving is much bigger than the gift. The gift is an iceberg above the water, and below the surface is the sacrifice that went into it. The gift is a tree, and the roots in the ground are the sacrifice that went into it. Read or listen to this material from Your Finances God’s Way to learn more.

https://youtu.be/nLCGb0opbIk
We can learn about sacrificial giving from the account of the widow's mite in Luke 21:1-4 and Mark 12:41-44. Giving is bigger than the gift.

Table of contentsThe Widow's Mite Shows Sacrifice Is More Important than the AmountThe Widow's Mite Is a Window Into Eternal RewardsOur Sacrificial Giving Is WorshipThe High Priest, Priesthood, Temple, and Sacrifices Under the New CovenantWe See Sacrificial Giving with AbrahamWe See Sacrificial Giving with Animal SacrificesWe See Sacrificial Giving with DavidGive According to Your IncomeWhat About American Christians' Giving?Give Because Our God Is a GiverFootnotes

When Katie and I were part of a home fellowship early in our marriage, a couple joined the group soon after being released from prison. Even though they hadn’t been Christians for long, their affection for the Lord was evident. They were thankful that He had forgiven them, that He would want a relationship with them after their actions, and that He would allow them to begin new lives in Christ. Because of the decisions that led to their incarcerations and the burned bridges with most, if not all, family members and friends, it wouldn’t be too much to say that our home fellowship was just about all the relationships they had.

They were part of our group when Katie was pregnant with Rhea. Everyone was excited for us, but perhaps because this couple had no children or grandchildren, they seemed more excited than anyone else. They desperately wanted to give Rhea a gift when she was born, but as you can guess, they didn’t have much.

They settled on a dirty, smelly blanket, which they put in a torn plastic bag. They were smokers, so we had to put the blanket on the sanitary cycle on our washer quite a few times, but we still couldn’t get rid of the smell. While the blanket didn’t cost much and was never helpful to us, the gift was significant.

Why? Because they had so little, we knew the sacrifice that went into the gift. Giving is much bigger than the gift. If I can use two analogies:

The gift is an iceberg above the water, and below the surface is the sacrifice that went into the gift.

The gift is a tree, and the roots in the ground are the sacrifice that went into the gift.

Everything behind the giving is more important than the gift itself. The premier example of this in scripture is the account commonly called the widow’s mite:

Luke 21:1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.

There’s a lot in commentaries about how much – or how little – she put in. I could bore you with a discussion of the different coins of the day, but I don’t think it’s necessary. You get the point that she put in a tiny amount.

The shocking part of the widow’s mite is that she had only two mites and gave them both. She might have kept one coin for herself, and no one would have blamed her if she had. Instead, she gave both with staggering generosity.

Luke 21:3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.

Jesus called His disciples to talk to them about what He saw. The parallel account in Mark 12:41 says, “Many rich people put in large sums.” Jesus wasn’t impressed with the large sums the rich people contributed. Instead, He drew their attention to the widow's mite. Although the ESV doesn’t include the word “how” in Mark 12:41, most other translations – such as the NASB, Amplified, NKJV,