What Are Your Motivations?
In Luke 21:3, Jesus says something surprising: “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.” He’s watching people give their offerings at the temple. A widow has just put in two small copper coins, worth about two dollars in today’s money. At the same time, wealthy people are making big donations. Their coins clang loudly in the trumpet-shaped offering boxes for everyone to hear. Yet Jesus says this widow, with her two dollars, has given more than all the rich people combined.
What does that mean? How can two dollars be more than hundreds or thousands? The answer is simple. It’s not about the amount. It’s about the motivation behind the gift. Our actions show our motivations. They show the world what we care about. They show God what matters to us. And they show us what really drives us.
The Danger of Appearing Holy
Right before Jesus points out the widow, he warns his disciples about the scribes. These were the religious teachers and leaders. They were supposed to point people toward God. But instead, they pointed people toward themselves.
They wore long, expensive robes so everyone would know their status. They loved when people greeted them respectfully in the marketplace. They wanted the best seats in the synagogue and the places of honor at dinners. They made a show of saying long prayers. But at the same time, they were taking advantage of widows who had no one to help them.
Were they always this way? Probably not. I think many of them started out really loving God’s word. They were like the blessed person in Psalm 1, “like trees planted by streams of water.” But somewhere along the way, something changed. Their love for God’s word became love for being admired. Their desire to know God became a desire to look wise. They became so worried about how they looked to people that they stopped caring about how they looked to God.
This is a warning for all of us. It’s easy to start well and slowly drift away. It’s easy to take what God gives us and turn it into something about ourselves. We might not wear fancy robes. But we can still want people to notice us, approve of us, and honor us instead of God. We can still make our faith about us instead of about him.
Money Shows What’s Inside
Jesus saw that the scribes were using their religious position to take advantage of widows. Money, it turns out, shows what’s really inside us. How we use it, what we spend it on, how we give it away. All of these things show the true state of our hearts.
Think about it this way. If someone uses money to control others or gain power over people, what does that tell you about their heart? If someone keeps it all out of fear, never giving, never trusting God to provide, what does that show? If someone gives a lot but only when others are watching, what’s really behind that giving?
The widow’s two coins tell us everything about her heart. She gave all she had. It was the smallest offering allowed. But it was also everything she needed to live. She could have kept one coin and given just one. She could have walked past the offering box. No one would have noticed. But she gave both coins. She kept nothing back.
What Have You Been Given?
In the parable of the talents, Jesus tells a story about a master who gives his servants money. He tells them to do business with it while he’s away. The point isn’t how much each servant gets. The point is what they do with it. Two servants use it well. They invest it and multiply it for the master. But one servant buries it in the ground. He does nothing with what he’s been given.
Each of us has been given something by God. Maybe it’s time. Maybe it’s money. Maybe it’s a talent or ability. Maybe it’s connections with certain people. The question isn’t how much you have. The question is this: what are you doing with it?
Are you using it for God? Are you doing business in his name? Or are you burying it? Are you keeping it for yourself? Are you using it only for your own comfort?
The widow had almost nothing. But she gave what she had. Oseola McCarty washed clothes for 75 years. She lived simply. She cut the toes out of shoes when they didn’t fit. She taped her old Bible together to keep the pages from falling out. At 87 years old, she gave $150,000 to create scholarships for children in Mississippi. When people asked why, she said it felt like the right thing to do. She said God told her it was right. Her actions showed her motivation. She trusted God, not money. And her life followed that trust.
Check Your Motivation
So how do we live this out? First, ask God to help you see your own motivations. Why do you do what you do? Why do you give or not give? Why do you serve or not serve? Be honest with yourself. If you’re doing it to be noticed, to be approved, to feel better than others, then something needs to change. God wants everything that belongs to him. Our worship, our honor, our praise. Everything we have. It all came from him in the first place.
Second, look at other people’s motivations too. When someone gives you advice or asks something of you, look at their actions. What’s behind those actions? What’s their purpose? We live in a world where everyone has an opinion and wants to tell you what to do. Many people want to sell you something. It’s important to check motivations. If money is involved, be extra careful.
The widow gave two dollars. Jesus said she gave more than everyone else. Why? Because she gave out of love. She gave out of trust. She wanted to honor God with everything she had. She kept nothing back. That’s the kind of motivation God honors. That’s the kind of heart he’s looking for.
What will you do with what you’ve been given?