S T O N E S
What Stone Will You Let Jesus Roll Away Today?
May 15th, 2023
POVERTY: Worth Less
Luke 24:2, ‘But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.’ (NKJV)
“I love the imagery of the stone that covered Jesus’ tomb rolling away when He defeated death. The reality is, we all have stones in our lives…but the good news is: Jesus Christ rolls stones away!” (Christine Caine)
I live an incredibly blessed life. There is nothing I need that I do not have. And much of what I may want is within fingertips. Growing up as a child, there wasn’t ever a time my family went without, and our surplus was always significant. I do not have authority to speak with lived experience about poverty, but I see the effects all around me. While my cup runs over, many are empty. And desperation begs on the doorstep of desperate dimensions. There is a well-known saying that indicates ‘money makes the world go round’, and truth be told, when one surveys the opulence of this world, it becomes very easy to believe that way. It would be very simple to place hope in the ‘things’ this life has to offer, and to feel impoverished with any lack thereof. It is also quite easy to feel hopeless when some have so much, and you perhaps have so little. Not knowing where the next bill will get paid from is constricting and confining, and it isn’t any wonder, that for many today, the shortage of finances to pay bills and the ability to breathe easily are simultaneous thoughts.
I also think we can be flat broke emotionally, poverty-stricken spiritually. Perhaps you gambled everything away on a person or people who didn’t value you or return the gestures or who took advantage of your kindness as if it were a weakness. Or even sadder, maybe you’ve never given Jesus a chance to make your soul rich and increase your worth with everlasting wealth. You are destitute today, unable to have any foundational prosperity in your future because relationships in your past have bankrupted you forever, you fear.
We learn there is an affluence to a simple copper coin, however. Mark 12:41-44 reads, ‘Then He sat down near the offering box, watching all the people dropping in their coins. Many of the rich would put in very large sums, but a destitute widow walked up and dropped in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. Jesus called His disciples to gather around and then said to them, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given a larger offering than any of the wealthy. For the rich only gave out of their surplus, but she sacrificed out of her poverty and gave to God all that she had to live on, which was everything she had.”’ (TPT) Just because the widow’s offering was worth less than all other offerings Jesus watched the parishioners dropping in the offering box, it did not mean she was worthless. In fact, I believe the smallness of her offering made her faithfulness more valuable than all the rest because it came from her lack, not from her excess. This ‘poor widow’ in truth was this ‘rich woman’. Her authenticity increased her value.
I know there are people everywhere who are struggling to make ends meet. There are needs I will never know about or understand. There are many who are impoverished due to ‘poor’ choices they have made, but some have no ability to create increase where there is none. Either way, I feel such helplessness while encountering the needy meagerness found in many corners and on sidewalks of this world, especially while my life is abundant and full and blessed. I am certain the greatest wealth I own is Jesus, and I wish for everyone, they too would receive what I have been given. I may not nor will ever have what the world says makes it go ‘round—much money—but He is my richest treasure, my portion and my peace. In Him, I have everything I need.
“IT IS FINISHED!”
