What We Offer

[Jesus] looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small 
copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor 
widow has put in more than all of them.”

— Luke 21:1-3 (NRSVUE)

I have always struggled with perfectionism — a tendency to set unrealistically high expectations for myself and others. I strive to follow all the rules, get all the right answers on the test, and achieve flawlessly the goals I set for myself. This is a lot of pressure to live with, but I think many of us carry this kind of burden when it comes to living our Christian faith.

We want to please God, to follow God’s commandments, to be perfect in God’s sight. But in thinking this way we focus on our own agency and forget one of the most important central claims of our Christian faith — that “while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). God loves us and calls us worthy despite our imperfections.

God’s deep and unconditional love sets us free to act with mercy and compassion, allowing God’s love to overflow through us to our hurting world. In this issue of The Upper Room, writers share stories that reveal the importance of offering what we have and trusting God to multiply our efforts. In the end, it is not what we can contribute but how God can use what we offer. Releasing our unreasonable expectations of perfection, let us step forward in faith and offer what we have so that the world can experience God’s love through us.