Do you give your best? Or do you hold back?
It is easy for us to hold back a portion for ourselves. We have a built-in instinct to take care of ourselves. We also can be selfish, wanting the best for ourselves. The combination of those two can drive us to being reserved and saving for a rainy day.
Mary saved nothing. She gave Jesus everything she had. The fragrant perfume oil she poured on Jesus’ feet was worth a year’s wages. Think about that for one moment. How much money do you make per year? Would you spend it all on Jesus? But it is more than that. That year’s wage was what a day laborer would make. In that time, day laborers were only men. Mary could not be a day laborer.
Mary’s extravagance is even more impressive when we know that the oil she poured on Jesus’ feet was worth more than the average woman would receive as an inheritance. Mary may have been saving her pennies her entire life to buy that bottle of oil. She spent everything she had to anoint Jesus just six days before He would go to the cross.
We do not have to give up every dollar we have. But Jesus does want us to give up everything we have. Contradictory? No. We are to be willing to use everything we have to serve Jesus. We need to understand that it all belongs to God, and we are merely stewards of what he has blessed us with. When we understand that and are willing to give it all back to him, our hearts have become like that of God’s.
I pray we all understand everything belongs to God. I pray we know we are stewards of God’s blessings. I pray each one of us are willing to give everything to God, making our hearts like his. God owns everything. You are a steward of God’s blessings. Give it all to God. Have a heart like God’s.
John 12:3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Marty Pressey 