Mary took a pound of fragrant oil—pure and expensive nard—anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped His feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas Iscariot said, “Why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? Jesus answered, “Leave her alone; she has kept it for the day of My burial.” John 12:3-7
Whoever gives a cup of water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple—I assure you: He will never lose his reward. Matthew 10:42
My words…
My Bible is filled with heart-wrenching, mind-bending, tear-duct-emptying words intended to lead me to know You better. (Thank You for that.) Some of my favorite words are the ones where You take an imperfect earthly perception and send it through a heavenly masher. Out pops a divinely perfect truth. A Holy Trinity perception. Amazing! Here’s an example: In the Kingdom of God, what is spent and what is wasted is determined by You in a perfect way, a higher way. So different from how we do things in the world. In Your kingdom, a missionary’s embrace of a person wet from baptism is as valuable as a million-dollar pledge to a church building project. A divinely inspired word of encouragement is as precious as a well-stocked food bank. A cup of cold water given in Your name is as expensive as Mary’s nard. Anything spent on You is an investment yielding an eternal reward.
Mary performed an act of pure worship that cost her a year’s wages. Perfume spent but not wasted. On his way to teach, the Apostle Paul endured a day and night on the open sea. Physical health spent but not wasted. I used up the better part of two days creating a Bible bingo game for my class of 4–6-year-olds. They were more interested in the plastic square markers than they were in learning the all-important Bible facts. Time spent but not wasted? Not sure about that one, I must say.
I love to read the story of Mary’s sacrifice of perfume and her expression of adoration while drying Your feet with her hair. That must have felt…heavenly. You are so worthy of such an act.
I praise You and thank You for allowing me the honor of worshipping You in any form and Your loving acceptance of it. You waste none of it.
