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"Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." Luke 21:1-4

This is the verse we went over in a small group I lead that is made of of 11th grade girls. We talked alot about giving sacrificially- do we give our heart, time, and money to the Lord to "just get by"? Or do we give further in order to allow us to rely more on Him.

The two copper coins that this woman gave which would have been equivalent to about $1.50 is about the amount of what her next meal would have cost. This woman, destitute, and poor, gave the amount of money that I am sure was a stretch for her but she did it cheerfully and with a faith-filled heart. Do we stretch ourselves daily to give more to God in our time, heart, and money?

I think about my walk with Christ. Do I do just enough or do I do more? Sometimes I look at people and think that they look complacent (me comparing) and I think: I read my Bible daily, I pray, I memorize scripture, I live my life for God. But here's the real question: Can I be complacent in my "living my life for God"? I think so. We can get into a daily routine and get used to the good things we are doing. Instead I should be saying: How can I learn more of God, how can I love others more, how can I preach more of the gospel to myself, how can I glorify God in my daily life more, and how can I fight and see more of my sin? Notice the word: more. I don't want to get to a certain point in my life and stop growing or stop knowing more of God than I could. So we give sacrificially more.

This week in small group, we challenged ourselves to really guard our time with Jesus. And sacrificially spend more time than we normally would with him. We challenged each other to when we wake up before showering, putting on makeup, changing clothes, etc we would pull out our Bible and spend time with Christ. So even if we are running late, we spend time with Jesus first!! I can't wait to see how this plays out for me and for the girls!