A Good Turn
“For they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”
And then we go to John 6:9:
“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
Jesus sees everything. He was sitting at the treasury in the temple, He saw the rich people come in - and they gave plenty but out of their abundance. Then the widow came in. She gave little she - gave two mites.
I looked that up in the Bible Dictionary: Two mites - a mite is half a farthing. Now for the young people, four farthings equals a penny and a penny is about the worth of a cent. It is the smallest currency there was and she put in two mites. But Jesus said she gave more because she gave all that she had. Then in the Gospel of John the young boy, I am sure his mommy made his lunch for him - two little sardines and five small barley loaves but you know something? He went and he gave it to Jesus.
Are you going to tell me out of 5,000 men that nobody had any food. Of course they did, they just didn’t want to give it away. You know, the Lord is not impressed by the amount that we give Him. He is impressed by the heart and the heart that we give it with.
I have had meals, literally in castles - that is right, lavish meals. And then I have had meals in Central Africa, in the bush, in a little hut, that is right... With just one plate of food that we had to share but you know, it is the love that makes the difference. Sometimes in those rich places when given food because it is the duty of the people because they are part of the church but in that little hut its the love of God that impresses one.
I remember like yesterday, when I was a young boy, going with my dad once, he was on a job up in Zambia. We were driving on this country road and my dad had a 5 ton truck. We were going to do a job and there was a farmer broken down with his old truck on the side of the road. I will never forget it... My dad stopped and said: “Can we help you?”. He said, “Ja, please” and we towed him back to his farm which might have been twenty, thirty, forty kilometers away. When we got to the farm, we could see that the man had fallen on hard times. He didn’t have much at all. He said, “I can’t pay you for what you have done.” My dad said, “I don’t want any payment.”
And then he went into his house and he came out with a bundle of dry biltong, the most delicious biltong. He had obviously shot a buck and dried out that meat. Then he gave us a container full of fresh milk that he had milked from his single cow that morning. I have never forgotten that gesture as long as I have lived.
Today remember, do good to somebody. It doesn’t matter how much it is - Do it with a good heart.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day!