The requirement of the gospel is that, having first given ourselves to
Christ, we should then devote all we have, be it little or much, to His
service. The largest gifts fall infinitely below what He deserves from
us; the smallest will not be rejected by Him. For it is the motive, not
the gift, which our Lord regards. The poor widow's mite was more
acceptable to Him than the ostentatious and lavish donations of the
wealthy. Yet the smallness, the seeming worthlessness, of our means is
often pleaded as an excuse for withholding them altogether. Because men
can do so little, they do nothing. It was the servant who had received
only one talent that wrapped his lord's money in a napkin, and buried it
in useless, unprofitable obscurity. When the multitudes hungered in the
wilderness, the disciples hesitated to bring the five barley loaves and
two small fishes, asking, "What are they among so many?" They were
taught, however, to produce their little all, utterly inadequate as it
was to the exigencies of the case, and lay it in the hands of Omnipotent
Love, that He might by His blessing increase it to the feeding of the
five thousand. "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to
confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world and
things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things that are not,
to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in His
presence."
This great truth is admirably illustrated in the following pages. In
the life of Christie Redfern we may see how the simple desire to serve
God, felt and acted upon by a poor, suffering child, may give an almost
heroic strength of character, and may produce results, the magnitude and
grandeur of which are altogether out of proportion to the feebleness of
the means employed.