When Moses came down from Mount Horeb with the tablets containing the testimony of God, it was time to begin building the tabernacle. "Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, 'This is what the LORD has commanded. Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD's contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarns and finely twined linens; goats' hair; tanned rams' skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.' " (Exodus 35:4-9)
But it wasn't just the materials Moses needed. he also needed people, men and women, to do the work of making everything. God had called out a couple of men by name to lead this project. These men "received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought... They still kept bringing him free will offerings every morning..." The people brought more than enough to do the work, so much in fact, that "Moses gave command...and the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work and more." (Exodus 36:3-7)
Jesus tells us of another generous heart in the story of the widow's offering. As Jesus sat near the treasury box in the temple, "many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny." (Mark 12:41-44) Jesus went on to tell the disciples her gift was more generous than all the rest because she had given all she had to live on.
Americans prove themselves over and over to be a generous people. Just look at all the money given to aid disaster victims. Organizations like the Red Cross do a great job of helping people in times of disaster but what a lot of people don't know is that the Red Cross depends a lot on faith-based disaster relief teams to cook meals and wash clothes and provide shower facilities and just plain labor. (I know because I've been there, done that.) So what would happen if the followers of Jesus were generous year round to their local church AND their local church was willing to support the local pregnancy center and the local food bank and the local homeless shelter and all the other organizations who reach out to "the least of these". Those places should never lack for funds if the church, which is the people, has a generous heart.
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