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Apr 21, 2023 18:30pm

What a Sacrifice

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I opened up the little black, velvet box and inside was a ring. It was made of gold, the setting in the shape of a tear drop, with little garnets placed throughout the design. I knew this ring well. For as long as I could remember, it was always on my mother’s right hand, on the forefinger. If I close my eyes, I can still picture her hands in my mind, and that ring right there in its rightful place.

It was Christmas, and I knew times were tough, and here she was giving me this ring that meant so much to her. I told her I could not accept this. She didn’t have to give it to me. I didn’t need a gift. But she insisted.

“And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” (Mark 12:41-44)

I can only imagine the hands of this woman as she grasped those two copper coins. It was all she had to live on. But it doesn’t say she stood at the box and contemplated how much of it to put in. It doesn’t say she wrung her hands over and over. She knew what she was doing and those hands placed that money into the box. She didn’t have to give it all, but she did.

What a sacrifice!

I can see another set of hands that gave all that He had…
He knew what He was doing. He knew the sins of the world required the sacrifice of innocent lamb, and He was willing to give it all.

They took His hands and laid them in the roughly hewn wood. The cold iron of the stake touched the center of His palm and then with great force, they drove the nail into His hands. The One who gave all He had for me. What a sacrifice!

What are we willing to give in return? Have we looked at what we are giving to the Lord? This woman gave all she had. Jesus gave everything He had. And what about us? Are we giving sacrificially? What about our time and our efforts? Are we giving that to the Lord? Isn’t He worthy? Isn’t God deserving of all we have, of all we can offer? Not out of our abundance, but true sacrificial giving.