A missionary, speaking at a...
Illustration
A missionary, speaking at a church conference, used the Scripture text which told of the poor widow who placed her last coins in the temple treasury. Many of the wealthy church leaders at the conference were angered when the missionary made the statement, "A widow's penny is worth more to the kingdom of God than the thousands given by a rich merchant."
The denominational directors of the conference were so afraid the wealthy leaders would withdraw their financial support that they asked the missionary to speak again at a special dinner for the leaders, to apologize in order to pacify their anger. The missionary agreed to speak again, but his words were not exactly what the directors or the wealthy dinner guests wanted to hear.
"The contributions of your thousands is a good thing," he said, "because the money helps to build churches and to support missionaries like myself, which are very important to the kingdom of God, and I do not wish to minimize such gifts. Yet, it is necessary also to recognize that the contributions of all the poor people in the world are so much greater because they represent true devotion and sacrifice. And it is sacrifice, not dollars alone which build the kingdom of God. The poor give a large part of a little, while the offering of the rich represent a little given from a lot. There is much difference between the two."
--Byrd
The denominational directors of the conference were so afraid the wealthy leaders would withdraw their financial support that they asked the missionary to speak again at a special dinner for the leaders, to apologize in order to pacify their anger. The missionary agreed to speak again, but his words were not exactly what the directors or the wealthy dinner guests wanted to hear.
"The contributions of your thousands is a good thing," he said, "because the money helps to build churches and to support missionaries like myself, which are very important to the kingdom of God, and I do not wish to minimize such gifts. Yet, it is necessary also to recognize that the contributions of all the poor people in the world are so much greater because they represent true devotion and sacrifice. And it is sacrifice, not dollars alone which build the kingdom of God. The poor give a large part of a little, while the offering of the rich represent a little given from a lot. There is much difference between the two."
--Byrd
