As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.  He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.  “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.  All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” – Luke 21:1-4
Everyone is looking for the best value for their dollar.  Mom and Pop shops are long gone, replaced by the supermarket and department stores.  But even supermarkets and department stores are now under fire by membership warehouses to create a greater value for their customers.  And while people may not like the Wal-Marts of the world, you can’t blame the company for operating under the rules given to them under capitalism any more than you can blame the people who shop there for wanting to save money.
Value is top quality for the price, or working to maximize the return on your investment.  The story of the widow’s mites is commonly used to show an example of sacrificial giving – which is something God calls us to do.  But we need to realize why He calls us to do it.  Is it because He’s a stickler for rules?  Is it because He needs the money?  Is it because he wants us to live meager lives?  Or is it because He wants to expand our minds to understand that what we have is given to us by Him in order to provide bread for the eater, but also seed for the sower?
Some people like eating seeds, but even if you enjoy them, you know that they are a snack at best.  Seeds don’t make a meal, they don’t satisfy long term, unless they’re planted, cultivated, and harvested as fruit that produces even more seed.  The widow understood that her gift was her act of worship.  She was thanking God for what she had been given and trusting God that He would take the seed that she planted and produce a harvest with it that would provide her with more bread and seed for tomorrow.  What greater value could she have found on the investment of her money?
At times, you have to step out away from your comfort zone, drop the world’s safety nets, and rely totally on the power of God.  This is not easy to do, but God’s promises are clear.  Hear the promise God makes to those who give to God what He has commanded as written in Malachi 3:8-12.
“Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.”
May we find to true value in our lives by valuing the will of God.