Give All You Can

Jesus sat down opposite the temple treasury and watched people put in their offerings. Many rich people came by and threw in large amounts. It must have made a satisfying noise as the coins clattered in.

Then a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins, the smallest coins there were, worth less than a penny. Jesus called His disciples over.

“Truly I tell you, this widow, poor as she is, has given more than all the others who are giving to the offering boxes. The others all gave from what they had left over. But she, in her need, gave everything she had, the whole of what she had to live on.” (Mark 12:43-44)

How God counts

In God’s arithmetic, the widow gave more than all of them. How? Because God doesn’t measure a gift by its size. He measures it by its cost. The rich gave out of their surplus. They had plenty left. The widow gave out of her poverty. She had nothing left.

That is good news for people with little. Your small gift, given sacrificially, may be worth more in heaven than a large gift given from comfort. God is not impressed by size. He looks at the heart and at what the gift costs the giver.

The American revivalist Charles Finney said the same thing to the wealthy church members of his day:

“Perhaps that poor woman, who puts in twelve and a half cents at the monthly concert, has exercised more self-denial, than they have in giving thousands.”

And it is a challenge to people with much. If God measures what we keep as well as what we give, many of us who give generous-sounding amounts are still giving from our surplus. We give what we will never miss.

Wesley’s third rule

We have seen John Wesley’s first two rules: “Gain all you can” and “Save all you can.” His third rule is where they lead:

“Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly saved all you can, Then ‘give all you can.’”

John Wesley, The Use of Money

Wesley warned that a person who gained and saved but did not give was in great danger. Gaining and saving without giving just make you a richer miser. The whole point of gaining and saving is to give.

And he lived it. The story often told of him goes back to his early biographers. As a young man at Oxford he found he could live on about twenty-eight pounds a year, and he gave away what was left. When his income doubled, and then rose further, he kept living on the same twenty-eight pounds and gave all the rest away. His income grew, but his standard of living stayed simple. Late in life, his books earned a great deal, and almost all of it went to the poor and to the work of the gospel.

Wesley’s challenge to us is not “give a tenth.” It is “give all you can.” That doesn’t mean give everything and leave your family destitute. It means: provide for your real needs, then ask, how much more can I give?

A ceiling on spending

One practical way to follow Wesley is to set a limit on your own lifestyle. Decide what you and your family actually need to live on, simply but not miserably. Then, as your income grows, let your giving grow instead of your spending.

Most of us do the opposite. When our income goes up, our lifestyle goes up to match. A bigger house, a newer car, more expensive holidays. Before long, we feel just as stretched on the higher income as we did on the lower one. This is sometimes called lifestyle creep, and it is one of the main reasons people who earn more do not give more.

Setting a ceiling on spending is a way of saying, “Enough.” It’s the opposite of covetousness. It frees more money every year for God’s work.

The call to the rich

Paul gave Timothy specific instructions for the wealthy members of his church:

“Tell them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to give generously and to share. In this way they will store up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the age to come, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:18-19)

Notice: “rich in good deeds.” The rich are not told to stop being rich. They are told to become rich in a different currency, and to use the first kind of riches to gain the second.

And notice the result: “so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” Giving is not a loss of life. It is how we grab hold of real life. Stinginess shrinks the soul. Generosity enlarges it.

Sacrificial giving

The Macedonian churches that Paul praised in 2 Corinthians 8 were extremely poor, and yet “they gave all they could, and more than they could, and they did it of their own free will” (2 Corinthians 8:3). That is sacrificial giving: giving that costs. It’s giving that means you go without something you would like.

For most of us, sacrificial giving won’t mean giving away everything. But it should mean giving enough that we feel it. If our giving never affects our lifestyle at all, it may be that we are only ever giving from our surplus.

Everything

The widow gave “the whole of what she had to live on.” In the end, that is what God asks of every disciple. Not necessarily all our money, but all of ourselves. The Macedonians “gave themselves to the Lord” first. When we have given ourselves, our money follows.

A voice from the past

Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, wrote a little book of searching questions about what she called “Calvary love.” One of them goes straight to the heart of giving:

“If there is any reserve in my giving to Him who loved me enough to give His dearest for me... then I know nothing of Calvary love.”

Amy Carmichael, If

Practice this week

Work out roughly what you and your family need to live on, simply but not miserably. Write it down. Then pray about this question: if my income goes up next year, could I let my giving rise instead of my spending?

For groups

• Why did Jesus say the widow gave more than all the others?
• Is it possible to give a large amount and still give from surplus? How would you know?
• What do you think of Wesley’s practice of capping his living costs? Could you do something similar?
• What is the difference between giving sacrificially and giving irresponsibly?