$100

$100, a lot or too little....

Hebrews 13:5

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

The other day I received a letter from World vision with an accounting for one family's use of $100.  

To them it meant a whole lot of daily living supplies. They bought:

One blouse and skirt

One blanket

 Two pans

Seven plates

One pair shorts

Four round wrap cloths

A traveling bag

Two pairs of slippers

Two liters of cooking oil

One hoe

One shirt

Ten school books

Two pens

Four toilet soaps

Two cups

One smiling family

Wow, I don't think I could do that much at Walmart or Target...

Just makes me think a about $100 here InThe US..I bought a hoe the other day at Home Depot and they started at $ 12 each.  And could probably get some of these things at the dollar store, or the thrift store but not new, usually..the oil would be expensive. And ten school books-just writing books for copying exercises in the classroom.

In China, where we went several years ago, their writing/exercise books were pretty cheap, but the quality was also..

Or where would $100 be used here for a family? E box, games, camp, happy meals... Or daily living supplies....I have to ask myself, am I using money wisely amongst the myriad  of choices I have.  Am I a good steward?  As we do have the poor among us here in the US.  Is there something I need to be doing?? And what ??? Wisdom and prayer for answers...

Matthew 6

New International Version (NIV)

Giving to the Needy

6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Ecclesiastes 5:10a

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. 

Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Mark 12:41-44

The Widow’s Offering

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”