In the scriptures (Luke 21:1-4), Jesus saw a poor widow putting in two small coins and commented that this lady put in more than all the rest. He was impressed that she offered her whole livelihood. This poor widow had the grace, wisdom and capacity to be able to do that. She had the faith. That gift of faith.
Some people may only have a raw desire to help others. To share their wealth with the homeless. They may give up their whole livelihood so they can share with the poor. Others, after amassing billions of dollars, desire to share some of that with others. This reminds me of Bill Gates of Microsoft and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. They are extremely wealthy yet they desire to share their wealth with the less privileged. How much? Perhaps a tiny part of their total wealth. But they give. They share. When it appeared in the news that Jeff Bezos donated $98.5 million dollars out of his $131 billion dollars personal wealth, Twitterville was inundated with thousands of negative comments.
I wondered how many of those who criticised Bezos actually gave to the less privileged people around them. It doesn’t really matter how much one gives. Or, if the reason for giving was only to get a tax concession. Even ordinary employees donate to get a tax deduction. Nobody makes noise about that.
Countless people give to their churches, their families, and their relatives regularly. No one knows the amount. Most of these donations are not tax deductible.
Thousands of migrant workers, overseas workers and seafarers send their salaries back to their families. Was it their personal, generous desire to give? Or, were they expected by their families to give? Is it more of an obligation to give? Are they just naturally kind and generous that is why they give?
Does it really matter how much people give? Jesus showed that even two cents was much more valuable because that was all the poor widow had. She gave it all. She whole-heartedly desired and willed to give it all away.
Does it matter if you give but your intention is not pure and whole-hearted? Or, if you only give a tiny portion of your income or wealth?
As ordinary beings, due to thousands of reasons, we may not be blessed to be in a position wherein we can give away all that we have. But we can still give what we want and what we desire to give.
The amount should not be the measure of our giving. What is important is how we value what we give and share. Not in monetary terms but the real value for us.
Do we give because we truly care for others? There are several aspects to giving: the amount, the intention, the caring, the obligation, the relationship and others.
When we give, no matter how small, we give life to others. Afterall, what we have and what we give, do not belong to us.
Thus, it is not for us to judge the value of the giving. It is for God to judge our giving. He gave us everything from nothing. We simply have to give it back to him through giving … to others.