Everything

While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people putting their gifts into the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two pennies. “I assure you,” he said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” – Luke 21:1-4


In the movie The Magnificent Seven with Yule Brenner, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and others, the farmers in the small village are being bullied by bandits. They work the dry soil to harvest food for their families only to have the bandits come in and steal it from them. They cannot defend themselves. They have only one hope; hire a gunslinger to protect them.

They call for Yule Brenner’s character, which is the most famous gunslinger in the land, and ask for a meeting. When they do meet, he tells the group of farmers that they cannot afford him by telling them that people pay good money for his services. What happens next in the movie really caught my attention.


One of the villagers takes out a cloth and lays it on the table. He unwraps it and says, “This is everything we own; everything of value in the village.”

Looking at the meager jewelry and silver items in the cloth Yule Brenner replies, “I’ve been offered a lot for my services; but never everything.”

As the movie progresses, the gunslinger recruits six men who have this same value of what “everything” is worth. They offer their services not for the prestige or amount, but for the cause because it is right and just.

God has an altogether different standard by which to measure giving and givers than what we have come to know as economics. With God, attitude counts more than amount. Justice weighs more than resources, and that is why Jesus praises this widow woman as she gives “everything” she has. A generous person isn’t simply one who gives conveniently and comfortably out of abundance. A generous person in God’s eyes is one who risks all, sacrifices cheerfully, and gives without demanding attention or expecting a reward.

Whether it’s our time, talents, or money, God wants us to give “everything” to him.

I would recommend watching The Magnificent Seven if you haven’t seen it. It is full of scenes that show the choices we all must make every day when it comes to our attitude, justice, and just what “everything” we have is worth.