This message should encourage you if you think you are too poor to count.  Some people would probably attempt to do more for God if they thought that what they can contribute to the work of God would make a difference.  But they don’t try because they think their contribution won’t count.  Well, God doesn’t see what you can do for him the same way you do.

The poor widow gave the greatest gift

In Lk 21:1-4, Jesus Christ had just had another confrontation with the Pharisees.  When he shut them down and told them off, he sat down and watched the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.  Then he noticed a poor widow woman cast in two mites.  A mite was the least valuable coin they had.  Two mites make a farthing which is just enough to buy two sparrows.  Yet, her gift, according to Jesus, was greater than all of the others, because she had given all her living.  Less was more.  Don’t think that, because you are poor, you can’t do something big for God.  

The impoverished Macedonians abounded in the riches of their liberality

In 2 Cor 8:1-2, the Macedonians gave during a great trial of affliction and in their deep poverty.  Yet, the Lord gave them an abundance of joy and, like the widow, considered their gift to be rich.  What they gave may not have seemed like much to them, but to the Lord it was abundant.  They were not too poor to count.

Poor Gideon led 300 men against 135,000 Midianites

In Jud 6-8, God used Gideon to save Israel from the Midianites.  When the Lord approached Gideon about delivering Israel from the Midianites, Gideon said, “Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house”.  That’s certainly the right attitude before the Lord.  And it was surely true that they were poor and that he was the least.  Nevertheless, though he was too poor to count, he did what he could with what he had.  And God used him to deliver Israel.

Poor David became the greatest king Israel ever had

When Saul approached David about becoming his son-in-law, David replied, “Who am I? And what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, the I should be son in law to the king,” 1 Sam 18:18?  When Saul’s servants followed up with David on Saul’s offer, David said, “Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king’s son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed,” 1 Sam 18:23?  David was a poor man, but he wasn’t too poor to become the greatest king of Israel.  

Conclusion

Don’t talk yourself out of doing something for God because you think you’re too poor to count.  Give what little you are and what little you have to the Lord and see what he can do with it.  The folks who think they have the most to offer are usually the ones with whom God does the least.  As Gal 6:3 says, “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself”.