Journey With Jesus: 31 Days Devotion From the Gospel of MarkSample

Empty no more

For many people, life is like a giant masquerade ball. They pretend to have joy from seeking pleasure. They fake smiles of satisfaction from their achievements. Yet they feel empty when they are alone and take off their masks.

God sees beyond our external appearance, achievements, and acquisitions to our hearts. He knows our secret thoughts and deepest longings. He understands the depth of our emptiness.

In Mark 12:38-44, Jesus looked through the external acts of people and zeroed in on their inner intentions and attitudes. Here, we see two contrasting sets of characters.

The scribes (teachers of the Law) were dressed in flowing robes and uttered long prayers (v38-40). They looked good, spoke well, and enjoyed high status among the people. They loved receiving honour from others while exploiting poor and helpless widows. Their goal was to gain greater prominence for themselves. The scribes might have fooled their fellow men, but not Jesus. The Son of God saw through their empty religion and pointed out their hypocrisy.

In contrast to the arrogant scribes, the poor widow (v41-44) was probably dressed shabbily and unknown to most people. She could only afford to give two pitiful copper coins as an offering while the rich around her poured in huge sums of money. Perhaps they were sneering at her for her lack.

But Jesus was moved by this widow. He praised her sincere faith, for she had given God all she had (v44). The two small copper coins could very well have been her entire earnings for that day. By offering them, she would have barely enough left to survive. Jesus declared that she had contributed more than others (v43). He was so impressed by the poor widow that He used her as an example of faithfulness.

God is not looking for empty religion – superficial Christian behaviour centred around selfish desires and devoid of sincere love. Rather, He is looking for true and sincere faith. He wants a solid faith based on His revelations, which are consistently displayed in everything we do and say. What steps can you take to grow your faith in truth and sincerity?