God sees things differently. This is illustrated multiple times throughout the Bible, and is bluntly stated in Isaiah, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Is. 55:9). Jesus again illustrates this point in a small section of the Gospel of Mark we refer to as “The Widow’s Mite” (Mk. 12:41-44).

After a long day of public teaching, Jesus sat down in the temple and watched as people put money into the temple treasury. Some people put in a lot, and others put in only a tiny amount. We tend to put priority on amounts of money. More money is more money, after all. But that isn’t the way God sees things. The rich put in large sums of money, but the poor widow only gave two mites (or small copper coins) “which amount to a cent.” Jesus called His disciples to teach the lesson about how God views money. The amount isn’t what matters; it’s the impact that does. The rich gave out of their excess. The widow gave “all she owned, all she had to live on.” She, said Jesus, “put in more.” What she gave meant more to her which meant more to Jesus. 

What is money to God? He created all things. He does not need anything (Acts 17:24-25). Money may be extremely significant to men, but it doesn’t amount to much for the God who rules all of creation. He looks at the intentions and the sacrifice more than the monetary value.

There is another different way of thinking that occurs in this text. The Jews didn’t just value money more, they valued the rich more, and if the choice was between a rich, religious man and a poor widowed woman, well, that was as obvious of a value distinction as they could imagine. But Jesus calls His disciples to Him and points out that the poor widow has done more than the rich. And just a few moments before, Jesus had called out the scribes who love the chief seats in the synagogues who also devoured widows’ houses (Mk. 12:38-40). Those scribes were condemned. This poor widow is commended. In the sight of God, which one was more pleasing? The distinction was about as far apart as could be imagined, just in the opposite direction than most people would have thought back in those days.

Simply put, God sees things differently than we do. We must learn to train our way of thinking to line up with His rather than trying to figure out God through our own thinking.

But there is another thing to consider about this inspiring widow. We only know a few things about her. We know her husband had died. She was poor, which makes us wonder if those scribes had devoured her house (Mk. 11:38-40). Was she a victim of religious leaders? Maybe. What we do know is that God had taken her husband from her and she was left destitute. Had she turned against God and all religion? No. She was at God’s house giving all she had. That is a level of devotion that is worthy of commendation.

It is as though Jesus has called us to His side to marvel at this woman. Look at her and consider. Some might see her as pitiful and others as insignificant, but perhaps we should instead see her as a marvelous example. May we be the people who please God by our dedication regardless of our circumstances.