"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."
Of all the themes in the scriptures, I think this one is one of the most impressive concepts. This theme has always been there because man has always been plagued by the idea of security through money or status. In the material world, we see with material eyes, the things that seem most important; materials for status.
As we see in Alma 22, there was a haughty king who was taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and had the plan of salvation expounded unto him:
"And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy."
Is there any other way to receive all that the Father has than to give Him all that we have?
Another interesting example of this concept of giving up in order to have was given by Christ-
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one apearl of great price, went and sold ball that he had, and bought it." Matthew 13:45-46
I'm all for having an abundance of great things and living a great standard of living. But, I know there are limits to many of our wants that are put through the eye of the needle that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The promise through out the scriptures is that the Lord will give you ALL that you want if you give God ALL that you are. Thats the test. We must sacrifice our will for the will of God, thats the purpose of our being here and the way to prepare to return to God.
Giving of our abundance is easy. In fact, I find that to be the way I most commonly give. I'll see a homeless person and give them whatever spare change I can spare but when I get paid I don't purposely seek the poor and afflicted. Its something that we should all set aside time to purposely seek, to help those who are in need and not just wait for them to come to us, seeking the crumbs that fall from our table. Its very challenging because you never know when you might need the money, but the Lord once told an Apostle to go and catch a fish which would have a coin in its mouth. I think the Lord knows our needs more than we trust. But, trust is the only way to gain an abundance of blessings from God. Without faith then no miracles can be wrought.
I think the Lord wants us to help others in need because 1) we realize others have it worse and we become more grateful, humble and thus not so victimized by our entitlement issues. 2) Other people do need help and when we help then we are then in the service of God because we become as the angels. 3) We realize that money and and possessions aren't what makes a life happy. 4) We clean out our petty wants to be given greater wants, a change of heart from love of money to a love of God (see 4th Nephi). 5) Once we give the Lord our hearts then He can give us everything He has.
So, we learn, grow, strengthen, and love more by giving up those things that get in the way. An abundance of materials always gets in the way to spiritual abundance. Remember Christ is "the way".
