The Acts of the Apostles (1911) — PDF Scan 348

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342 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES The act of the widow who cast two mites — all that she had — into the treasury, is placed on record for the encouragement of those who, struggling with poverty, still desire by their gifts to aid the cause of God. Christ called the attention of the disciples to this woman, who had given ' ' all her living. ' ' ' He esteemed her gift of more value than the large offerings of those whose alms did not call for selfdenial. From their abundance they had given a small portion. To make her offering, the widow had deprived herself of even the necessities of life, trusting God to supply her needs for the morrow. Of her the Saviour declared, "Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury. ' ' ' Thus He taught that the value of the gift is estimated not by the amount, but by the proportion that is given, and the motive that actuates the giver. The apostle Paul, in his ministry among the churches, was untiring in his efforts to inspire in the hearts of the new converts a desire to do large things for the cause of God. Often he exhorted them to the exercise of liberality. In speaking to the elders of Ephesus of his former labors among them, he said, ''I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said. It is more blessed to give than to receive." ''He which soweth sparingly," he wrote to the Corinthians, ''shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let ' Mark 12 : 44, 43.