Dave’s Monday Blast – April 29, 2019

SIGNIFICANCE. Mark 12:41 – 42 says a great deal about significance from God’s perspective. Jesus said the widow gave more than any other, even though she contributed the least. The reason…she gave out of her poverty, everyone else gave out of abundance. Here we note this vital fact: Our significance does not depend on our status.

How God measures significance: The Denison Forum comments, “The widow in our story had no standing in her culture as a consequence of her husband’s passing. The passage says that she was “poor”. The Greek language has two words for being impoverished: penes means to have nothing to spare, while ptochos means to have nothing at all. This woman was the latter. Yet she still put “two small copper coins” in the temple treasury. These coins were the smallest in their currency and were “all she had to live on.

When the widow gave them to God, her sacrifice far exceeded that of the “rich people” who put in “large sums” they could afford to give. Her story reminds us that God measures significance by obedience not cultural status.

You may never “do anything” that the world considers significant. The world may never know your name…but God does. He called Moses by name when the future leader of his people was a fugitive shepherd in the wilderness (Exodus 3:4). He called Zacchaeus by name when the future benefactor of his community was a despised tax collector (Luke 19:5). Whether our work earns accolades from our secular culture or not, if we are faithful to our Father, He will use our obedience for eternal significance.

I would encourage you to measure success today as he does: Success = Obedience!