Daily EncouragementSample

How interesting and significant that he sat down there! Not the place where the priests were performing their ritual; not the place where the scribes were giving their teaching; but “the place where the offerings were put.”

This emphasizes the importance of our giving. Every aspect of our worship is meaningful - psalm and hymn, prayer and sermon, and offering too. To confine the offering to a box at the church door is a mistake, however good the motive for doing this may be. The offering is meant to be part of the worship.

Thinking of the Lord watching obviously tests our giving. He observes the spirit in which we give. We know he loves a cheerful giver and that any element of reluctance or compulsion is displeasing to him (2 Cor. 9:7). He counts what we give, particularly what we have left. His scale of values differs from the world’s - a poor widow’s copper coins weigh more than the large amounts of many careless givers put together.

Realizing what it means to him should encourage us to give. “The gifts you sent,” said Paul to the Philippians, “are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God” (Phil. 4:18). The Lord was watching when Epaphroditus handed them over.