Daily Radio Bible - October 8th, 21

This is a drill. It's not only a drill, but it is a drill. The average bystander wouldn't have noticed a thing. But Jesus did. An older woman, a widow, came to the temple and performed a drill and exercise that she had performed many, many times before. She offered her two coins as an offering to God. And Jesus saw it. And he said, pora she is, she's given everything she has. This offering was a training exercise in offering everything to God. This was an exercise in alertness. She was training her heart to be alert, to be dependent, to be waiting to be alive. And Jesus said to the disciples, as he says to us, stay alert, train your hearts. Be ready, be prepared. And that happens as we offer all that we are to God. In verse 34, and 35, he says, watch out, don't let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, by the worries of this life. Don't let the day catch you unaware, like a trap.

He says, stay vigilant. Be like this widow and train your heart by offering it each day to the Lord. All that you have for all that he is. At the end of this chapter, Luke tells us that the crowds gathered at the temple early each morning to hear him. Do you want to stay vigilant? Do you want to train your heart in ways of life and faithfulness to God? Then you can show up like this faithful widow did. This woman had learned to train her soul, and to offer all that she has, for all that God is, is not as a payment. Let's be clear about that. But as a declaration, a witness to the very source of her life. It was an act of participation in the life that she has in God. And in so doing, she received all that Christ gives each day. And like the crowds that gathered around him at the temple, we too can come each morning.

And we can come to receive a new word from God, encouragement from God, we can hear from him. We can train our hearts and our souls by offering all that we have for all that he is bearing witness to the source of our life, participating with him in his life in this world. If we follow this widows example, we too will know the joy, the grace, the power, the strength that comes by walking by faith. Let's do that together, my friends. Let's show up again tomorrow. And hear from him. Offering all that we have to receive all that He gives and all that he is. And that of course is what he's done for us. He's given everything he has, that we might participate and all that he is. And that's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family for my wife, my daughters, my son and that's a prayer that I have for you may be so

You are loved!