Mark 12:41-44 | I Corinthians 13:1-3
Jesus is a master of the word picture. Is there anything unclear from the portrait he paints between the established and poor in this scenario?
Motives matter. (Don’t be fooled that it is about the amount here.) The motive of the heart is what is at stake.
Mark 12:41-44
Jesus sat across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crowd gave their money. Many rich people were throwing in lots of money. One poor widow came forward and put in two small copper coins worth a penny. Jesus called his disciples to him 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.”
I Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don’t have love, I’m nothing. If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever.
Prayer
God,
How do I even change my motivation? Sometimes I find I have the desire to feel a particular way, but have no clue how to move my emotions into that feeling. Like I want to love my enemy/boss/grumpy neighbor/annoying driver/etc. but I can’t even fake it.
Is it okay to fake it sometimes? Isn’t it at least better to get the job done than to sit for hours trying to figure out how to fix my feelings about it all?
I truly don’t know the answers to all these questions, but I’m willing to try - even over a long period of time - to have my heart purified toward your perfect love.
So help me God by your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.
Lord, help me to love the unloveable