Little is Much

In the Gospel of John, chapter 6 we read the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand with the scant bit of food in a young boy’s lunch basket. Verse 9 tells us, “A youth here has five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that for a crowd like this?” (CEB) That basket could have contained only one loaf and 1 fish and Jesus could have still fed the crowd! When we offer all that we have to the Lord, He can and often will multiply it beyond our wildest imaginations.

Another example is the widow who gave two mites, offering all that she had. Jesus observed her dropping her two coins into the offering box and said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury. All of them are giving out of their spare change, but she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.” Mark 12:43-44 (CEB)

I like this comment on the widow’s offering as explained on biblegateway.com. It says, “As an Israelite the widow would have a knowledge of Hagar of old and of how she called Jehovah by the distinguished and comforting name, “Thou God seest me” (Genesis 16:13). She surrendered her all that day feeling that God’s eyes alone would know of her offering. Little did she know that the One sitting near the treasury was God manifest in flesh, and that because of His omniscience He knew all about her and also the amount of her sacrificial gift.

This was eye opening for me; I’ve not given much thought to the fact of Jesus knowing what I have to give and in light of that sum, what I would offer Him. Back in Mark’s account it is pointed out that others were giving out of their excess, maybe even holding something back. The widow lady gave all knowing that it was all she had at the moment, yet still she gave.

Whatever little we can give, be it time or money, food or clothing in the name of Jesus can do more than we expect. We may feel our donation isn’t worth much but “little is much when God is in it.”