This widow trusted in God enough to put in all her money. She wasn't worried about getting enough food or having somewhere to stay, or maybe she was, but she put in the money anyway. I find it very interesting that Jesus, both in the Bible and in the video script, tells us that she had cast in 'all of her living'. What a supreme act of faith! She doesn't know how the Lord will provide for her needs, and I suppose she doesn't even know that those needs will be met, but she cares more about giving to the Lord than about her temporal needs, and she has faith that she will be eternally better off for this act, whatever happens to her in the short term.
I believe that as we each accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are asked to put in 'all of our living'. In the early days of the restored LDS church, we lived the United Order as an application of the Law of Consecration: Like the ancient saints in the Acts, the gave everything they owned to the church, and then were given back just as much as they needed for themselves and their families. We are no longer asked to live the United Order, but I think some people believe, mistakenly, that we are also no longer asked to follow the Law of Consecration, and that is simply not true. Part of the baptismal covenant, as well as other covenants we make as members of the church, is accepting the obligation to give whatever we can, whatever is necessary, to build up the church and the kingdom of God. That starts with the law of tithing, of course. I don't think it stops there, however, and I don't think that was the message of the story of the widow's mite, either.
On another occasion, the Lord instructs a man to "sell all [he] has, and give to the poor...then come and follow me." (here, here, and here). It's important to notice that in the preceding verses, this was a man who was, apparently, living a good life, keeping commandments and so forth, and Jesus seems to accept him as such. Then he teaches him a higher law, the next step on the path he has started working on. I wish to emphasize that: this appears to have been a very high act, Matthew records Jesus as saying, ' if thou wilt be perfect', so it isn't something we should all be at right now. We can't run faster than we have strength. Still, it seems to be something we are striving for, something that we need to work towards until we can achieve it.
(I want to be fair to the young man; We don't know anything else about him, and I suppose he may have continued to follow Jesus, and he may have later even done as the Savior asked, and it was simply never put into the record)
We are no longer asked to physically give everything to the church and receive a stewardship, or to sell everything and give to the poor. I believe, however (and this is my interpretation, although I believe it strongly), that we are still given a stewardship from the Lord--whatever we get ourselves by our labor and diligent effort, our paychecks and our savings, are what the Lord has given us responsibility for. So, it's on us. No one will ever check up on how you are doing with that stewardship. He expects us to use the money that we have in the same way it would have been used in the past, had it been given to the bishop. We are responsible to help the poor and the needy. We are responsible to help ourselves, then our families, then our church, then anyone else we may find or know or be acquainted with, who is in need of something we can give them. As we learn to trust the Lord, and to see people as he sees them, we will want to help more and more, until we come to a point where the Lord may consider us, like the poor widow, as having cast in our whole living. He does not ask us to become destitute (our first responsibility is to make sure our families are provided for, after all), but the Lord wants to know that we would not hold back anything that we still have, if we could help and bless someone who needed it.
What I am describing is not something ordinary. This takes beyond-the-usual effort. As a publicly declared enemy of 'good enough', however, I don't mind a little going above and beyond. I don't think it's a place that everyone gets to in this life, and I don't think people who don't make it are lost, or unfit to enter heaven. Of course, in our church, we very much believe that progression happens after this life, too, and I imagine many good people who try to dedicate their lives to the Lord will have better luck at achieving it in the next life than they did here. The important part, to the Lord, is that they tried to do so, and so He covers up their lack with His own Son's Atonement. That's one interpretation of the word Atonement in Hebrew, by the way; a 'covering', as Jesus covering our sins and the things we lack. Still, I think it's an important principle, as shown by the widow who cast in 'all her living'. I want to do better at making 'all my living' something pleasing unto the Lord.
What do you think about the meaning of these scriptures? Do you have any other scriptures about these ideas? Do you have questions about these or other scriptures? I don't know everything, and I can't answer every question (except to say that I often don't know), but I love research, so if there is something you want my opinion about, please feel free to indicate that in the comments below.
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