Bible Stories for the Young
Green triangles are narrated and fully illustrated and will have simple animation added along the way. Yellow triangles have narration, but the illustrations aren't done yet. Videos with red triangles are planned. New and updated videos will be added very often.
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God had always wanted people to be give, give, givers. He told them that as He took care of them and gave them food and clothes and money, that they should find ways to give back to Him. So in the Temple there was a treasury where people would put money that they wanted to give back to God.
One day Jesus was in the Temple. He sat down and was watching as people put their money into the Temple treasury.
Some people put their money in because that’s what other people did, so they thought they should too. Some people put money in because they wanted people to be impressed with them and think that they were a generous, good person. But some people put money in because they loved God and wanted to give it to Him as a gift.
As Jesus watched, a rich man walked up in his fancy clothes. He tossed 1 bag full of coins into the treasury as he quickly walked by on his way to another place. Secretly he thought, “I have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 more bags full of coins at home. I don’t really need this one anyway.”
Then another rich man walked up. He thought, “I will put even MORE than the last man so that people will think that I am even more generous than him.” He held his big bags up high, so everyone could see. He had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 more bags full of coins at home! So he tossed 1, 2 bags full of coins into the treasury. He felt very proud of himself for giving so much.
Jesus watched rich person after rich person tossing in their bags of money, just doing their “duty,” or hoping people would see and be impressed at how much they gave — but not caring at all what GOD thought about it.
But after awhile, a very poor, old lady came by. Her clothes were raggedy. And do you know how many bags of money she had at home? None! She had 0 bags of money at home. She had 0 coins at home. She had 0 extra money.
She only had 1, 2 tiny coins in her pocket. She walked out to the treasury and carefully placed her 1, 2 tiny coins into it.
The rich people looked at her and laughed and thought mean things about her. They thought, “Look at that lady. She only gave 1, 2 tiny coins. I’m so much better than her. I gave way more coins than she did.”
But the lady didn’t care what other people thought about her coins. She had given all she had to God, and she knew that God saw her gift, no matter how small it seemed.
Do you know who else saw her gift? Jesus! He whispered to His disciples, “Pssst! Come over here. I want to show you something! Do you see that poor lady who gave 1, 2 tiny coins? She gave MORE than all those rich people who gave 1, 2 bags full of coins.”
“What do You mean, Jesus? How did she give more?” they asked.
“Those other people had lots of extra money. They will barely even notice that they have less money now after giving some. But this poor lady with raggedy clothes gave EVERYTHING she had. She didn’t keep any money for herself. She gave away the money she was going to buy groceries with — she needed that tiny bit of money so she could buy food to stay alive!
“The poor lady didn’t give away more coins than the rich people, but she gave away more of her heart. My Father in Heaven notices people who give like her.”