It's Me Again God 2

13. Love and Devotion

It's me again God,

How I cherish these early moments at dawn as I draw close to You! No matter what happens throughout the rest of the day, I have started it in the best way as I just open Your Word and listen for Your voice. Yesterday I was so touched by the story of Mary bringing the alabaster jar of fragrant oil to anoint Jesus! I knew that I must sit with the passage open a while longer.  Today I will just focus in on these words as Jesus rebukes His disciples for their criticism of Mary's gesture:

"Jesus said to them, "Leave her alone! Why are you so critical of this woman? She has honored me with this beautiful act of kindness. For you will always have the poor, whom you can help whenever you want, but you will not always have me. When she poured the fragrant oil over me, she was preparing my body in advance of my burial. She has done all that she could to honor me."
‭‭Mark‬ ‭14:6-8‬ ‭TPT‬‬

The last sentence stands out to me —"She has done all that she could do to honour me". This causes me to examine my own life —am I doing all I can to honour Jesus? Could He say this about me? The disciples had argued about who was the greatest and denied the fact that Jesus would die but Mary came showing her great devotion and lovingly anointed Him with oil in preparation for death. She wasn't thinking about herself but instead just honouring Jesus.

In this act, Mary found an enduring memorial. I'm sure it must have shocked the disciples as they heard Jesus say:

"I promise you that as this wonderful gospel spreads all over the world, the story of her lavish devotion to me will be mentioned in memory of her.""
‭‭Mark‬ ‭14:9‬ ‭TPT‬‬

True to His Word, I am reading this story today! I am greatly impacted by Mary's lavish devotion and I guess I am wondering what I could be doing to show it. But part of this woman's great love was displayed in the fact that she came up with the idea to express her love for Jesus in this way. I love what Charles Spurgeon had to say about this:

"If there was a command to do this, it would never be this precious. 'Oh,' cries a brother, 'tell me what I could do for Jesus!' Nay, but, brother, I must not tell you. The better part of the whole matter will lie in the hallowed ingenuity of your spirit in inventing something for him out of your own fervent soul."

This truly was an act that flowed straight from Mary's 'fervent soul' and I believe that as I just sit at Your feet in worship, Your Spirit will lead me and guide me so I will live a life that brings honour to Jesus too! This is not something that I can force! Mary's love and devotion flowed from a place of having sat listening to Jesus and that is exactly where I want to be. That is where I plan to start and finish my year!

"Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him], giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
‭‭COLOSSIANS‬ ‭3:17‬ ‭AMP‬‬

In His Name,
Amen.