There's a story recorded in the beginning of Luke 21 that tells of the offerings of the rich and of a poor widow. In this story, Jesus watches the rich put in various offerings into the temple treasury, followed by the widow dropping in two small coins. After witnessing these events, Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on." The rich and the poor widow in this story fit into two categories, the underachievers and the overachievers. But who's who?
An underachiever is someone who has a ton of talent but always put in the minimal effort required of them. They hold back the things they find important, such as: finances, possessions, time, their relationships with people, and even their heart. In this story, the underachievers are the rich. They had so much that they could give to God in a worship offering, yet they got by with giving the minimal amount that they could.
On to the overachievers. Overachievers are those who make up for anything they may lack with hard work and drive. They truly live up to their God-given potential. They are willing to sacrifice all that God has given them in order to achieve what He has in store for them. In our story, the poor widow is the overachiever. She hadn't been gifted in life, she didn't have many treasure to offer up, but she did give all that she had to God knowing He would provide for her.
The question is: what are you when it comes to your faith? Are you an underachiever who holds back, or are you an overachiever who may not have much but still gives it all to God? The thing is, if you truly want to be an overachiever, you need to have what I like to call rubber band faith. Now, you may be asking, "What in the world is rubber band faith?" Well, I'm so glad you asked! Let me explain. Rubber bands have thousands of uses. (I don't even think that's an exaggeration.) They can be used to tie up hair, to keep doors from locking, and even to grip lids on unruly jars! The crazy thing is, there are hundreds of more uses for these little bands, and they all have one thing in common; these rubber bands must be stretched in order to perform their job well. So what is rubber band faith? It's faith that's been stretched!
The thing is, we love living in the comfort zone. Whether we want to admit it or not, it's just so much more comfortable there! (Hence the name.) But however comfortable the "comfort zone" is, we should be stepping out of it daily to share and defend our faith with others! We shouldn't be afraid of failing when we take that first step because God is with us 100% of the time. We shouldn't let fear overcome us, because our God has already overcome it all. We can't do anything without Him, and realizing that, we should be asking Him daily to put us in situations where our faith will be stretched.
So, I encourage you, let your faith be stretched! Just like a rubber band.
