"They can be generous and give because they have extra, but I'm barely surviving financially."
How it sounds in your head: Easy to tithe when you're not choosing between groceries and gas. Easy to be generous when margin isn't a foreign concept. You'd love to give like they do, sponsor a child, support missionaries, but you're trying to keep your own lights on. Generosity is a rich person's privilege you can't afford right now.
"In a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing."
-- 2 Corinthians 8:2-3Enemy scarcity lie that makes generosity a luxury of abundance instead of a seed that produces abundance.
Math screams you can't afford to give when you can't afford what you already need. Their giving looks risk-free because they have cushion. Your giving would require faith you're not sure you have.
Gave two small copper coins - literally all she had to live on, not from surplus but from survival funds. Rich people gave large amounts from abundance, but Jesus said she gave MORE than all of them - her poverty gift got Heaven's attention more than their margin gifts, and He made sure her story was recorded forever.
I REFUSE the lie that generosity requires extra I don't have. IT IS WRITTEN that deep poverty can abound in riches of liberality and giving beyond ability releases supernatural return. The widow's two mites from survival money got more attention than the rich men's surplus - God doesn't measure my giving by their abundance. The BARAK blessing isn't unlocked by having extra - it's activated by faith that says 'my God supplies all my need according to HIS riches in glory.' IT IS WRITTEN that I give and it shall be given unto me, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over - that's not conditional on starting with surplus. My small seed from survival position is about to produce harvest that makes their comfortable giving look conservative. I'm not too broke to sow - I'm positioned to see multiplication they've never needed.
Your Father isn't waiting for you to have extra before He teaches you generosity - He's about to show you that giving from 'not enough' is the setup for MORE than enough. The widow didn't give from her surplus and get a small blessing - she gave from her survival and got Heaven's undivided attention. He's not asking you to give like they do from abundance - He's inviting you to release the seed that produces the abundance they're living in. Your little is His opportunity.