Giving in the Discomfort Zone

Many times, in order to give as we should, we have to give in the zone of discomfort. It is precisely in that dimension, when we give to God or to others freely, with extreme, consistent generosity, that the great miracles God wants to perform in our lives take place.

And I want to suggest to you who are reading this reflection: Adopt this as an ethic for life. Embrace it.

Tell yourself: “I am going to be a generous giver. I am going to be a person known for my generosity, and I am going to be generous toward others and with everything I have. And I am always going to give in the name of the Lord. I am going to give portions to seven and to eight, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says. And whenever I can help someone and bless someone with my gifts and my possessions, I am going to do it, always in the name of the Lord, as a spiritual act, as something intentional. Not because I am pressured to do it, not because I want to manipulate God by doing it, not because I like people to say, ‘Oh, what an exceedingly generous person,’ but because, by doing so, I will be entering into a secret covenant with my God. And even if no one else sees me, my God will see me and bless me.”

Throughout the Bible, we see that God has a special love for generous widows who give out of their poverty and their vulnerable condition. The Bible tells us not only about the widow of Zarephath, who fed the prophet Elijah during a time of famine in the land. In the New Testament, it also tells us about another generous widow who touched Jesus’ heart through her profound generosity toward God.

The Bible says that the rich would go to the temple and give large sums of money, putting them into the treasury, but there was a widow who had only one peso with which to buy herself a cup of coffee. She came to the temple, and she had so much love for God that she took the only thing she had left, her sole means of support—it was all she had in the world—and put it into the offering box. And how could she have known that the Lord was watching her from a distance? The eye of God records everything, and He observed the generous gesture of this humble woman. And the Bible records these things so that we may understand important spiritual principles.

There is nothing you can do that God does not see. Not even the innermost movements of your soul are beyond God’s sight. Do not ask me how He can do it, because that is beyond the mind’s ability to explain, but God knows. Even the fleeting thoughts that pass through your mind in a microsecond are recorded by God. And that is why we must walk in this way, knowing that everything we do, even if no one else sees it, is seen by God. And He will reward us according to our actions, whether public or secret.

This widow did not know that the Lord was there, perhaps watching from a temple staircase, looking down at the people below Him and seeing how the rich gave out of their abundant wealth while this widow gave out of her profound poverty. And Jesus turned to His disciples and said, “Look, guys, did you see that scene? Those rich people give a lot of money, but they give from their surplus. It costs them nothing. They give, let’s say, a thousand pesos, but that is because they have a million pesos in the bank. And to them, one hundred pesos or a thousand pesos is nothing. They do not feel it. Someone says, ‘Wow, he gave a thousand pesos—just imagine what an offering!’”

Now, for this widow, those ten pesos she gave represented everything she had. And proportionally, that was much more than the thousands of pesos those rich people might have given, which God ultimately does not need.... To God, ten pesos or a trillion pesos is nothing, because He owns the entire universe.

But what pleases God is the inner movement of the heart. Do you understand? God was pleased with the widow’s sacrificial gesture—with what that action represented: a desperate preference for God, faith in Him, and a militant and fierce love for Him. And the Lord Jesus declared: “In the eyes of the Father, that woman gave more than those rich people, because they gave in the zone of comfort, of the ordinary, of what causes them neither pain nor discomfort. That offering does not threaten their finances, it does not threaten their well-being, it does not threaten their survival—nothing. They give out of their surplus, not out of their poverty, as the widow did.”

But this woman entered the zone of adventure, discomfort, risk, possible death, and recklessness, and that is why the Lord was far more pleased with this woman’s offering, and surely she went away blessed and approved by God.

We need to understand fully this profound principle of generosity toward God and others, because therein lies a great secret to releasing God’s blessing and causing God’s power to flow in every dimension of our lives. When we learn always to give—to give sacrificially and generously in the name of the Lord—we release God’s favor in our lives. The sources of long-term prosperity and blessing open up in our favor, and we can live blessed lives filled with divine provision.