Arise, go to Zarephath…. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.
1 Kings 17:9
Recommended Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16
Last year, Deputy Ignacio Diaz died in a crash in Palm Beach County, Florida. A nearby boy Charlie Allsup wanted to do something, so he set up a lemonade stand to raise money for Diaz’s family. When Fox News asked Charlie why he had done this, he replied, “I just saw a need and I just thought that is what Jesus would do. I thought I could help.”6
Our giving to the Lord is just about as simple as that! Have you noticed that many of the biblical characters who did the most are the ones who had the least? The classic example is the widow who gave her two mites in Mark 12:41-44. But think also of people like the widow of Zarephath who gave her bit of bread to Elijah (1 Kings 17:8-16), and Dorcas, the woman of Joppa, who was “full of good works and charitable deeds” (Acts 9:36).
You don’t have to be rich to richly bless others. The Bible tells us to “be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share” (1 Timothy 6:18). How can you practice that principle today?
Our gifts are not to be measured by the amount we contribute, but by the surplus kept in our own hand.
Charles Spurgeon
- “Florida Nine-Year-Old Opens Lemonade Stand to Pay Tuition for Fallen Officer’s Son,” Fox News, December 7, 2024.
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