Monday morning.
The screaming of the alarm clock on this first workday of the new week is
usually greeted by a groan and then a bounce out of bed as I start the rush to
accomplish the many items on the latest list of “things that simply have to get
done” before Friday arrives. Some weeks are more task-heavy than others when, along with all of the normal household business to tend to, several periodic chores fall within the same week.
Overwhelmed – are we ever just ‘whelmed?’ –by the thoughts of all the things that need attention this week, I wondered how I could ever get it all done. Then I remember that I only have to do what I can.
Mark 14:8 (NIV) “She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.”
Luke 7:36-38 paints an even more beautiful picture of this scene for us.
“When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”
This ‘sinful’ woman, desiring to both worship Jesus and mourn His approaching death, did what she could and anointed His feet with expensive perfume. How expensive was this perfume? It had cost a year’s wages.
She could not help Christ carry His cross. That act of worship belonged to Simon of Cyrene. Instead, she did what she could. She wept and then wiped Jesus’ tear-stained feet with her hair to dry them.
She did not own the tomb that was given as the place where Jesus was to be laid after His crucifixion. That privilege belonged to Joseph of Arimathea. She did what she could and worshiped Him by placing kisses on the feet of the One who was willing to walk the path of pain, suffering and death. She had loved [Him] much and her sins had been forgiven.
The men who witnessed her loving treatment of Jesus grumbled about her ‘sinful’ nature, the cost of the perfume she used, and that she was touching His feet. Yet she was passionate and focused in her actions and completely heedless of these men or their comments as she performed her act of true worship.
She did what she could.
As a woman, she knew about perfume; about how hair was considered a woman’s crowning glory; and that tears were an
acceptable way to express deep emotions which could be freely released. She used the things of which she had knowledge. She did what she could and was honored and remembered for her actions down through the ages.
How often do we feel that we don’t do enough? Or else with all that we do, that more and more activity is needed as there is always more to do? (And there always will be.)
She did what she could.
This is a lesson for us. We need to do what we are able to do - right where we are - to honor and worship Christ. Our focus, once changed to Christ, will let us see what we truly need to do and we’ll be able to do it with confidence in spite of the biting comments of those watching us and deeming our work (i.e. our act of worship) as insignificant, or as not enough.
She did what she could.
What is it that you could do to worship Him? He’s waiting for you.
(For more information about forming a relationship with the Lord, see How You Can Find Him located at the top of this page.)
The screaming of the alarm clock on this first workday of the new week is
usually greeted by a groan and then a bounce out of bed as I start the rush to
accomplish the many items on the latest list of “things that simply have to get
done” before Friday arrives. Some weeks are more task-heavy than others when, along with all of the normal household business to tend to, several periodic chores fall within the same week.
Overwhelmed – are we ever just ‘whelmed?’ –by the thoughts of all the things that need attention this week, I wondered how I could ever get it all done. Then I remember that I only have to do what I can.
Mark 14:8 (NIV) “She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.”
Luke 7:36-38 paints an even more beautiful picture of this scene for us.
“When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”
This ‘sinful’ woman, desiring to both worship Jesus and mourn His approaching death, did what she could and anointed His feet with expensive perfume. How expensive was this perfume? It had cost a year’s wages.
She could not help Christ carry His cross. That act of worship belonged to Simon of Cyrene. Instead, she did what she could. She wept and then wiped Jesus’ tear-stained feet with her hair to dry them.
She did not own the tomb that was given as the place where Jesus was to be laid after His crucifixion. That privilege belonged to Joseph of Arimathea. She did what she could and worshiped Him by placing kisses on the feet of the One who was willing to walk the path of pain, suffering and death. She had loved [Him] much and her sins had been forgiven.
The men who witnessed her loving treatment of Jesus grumbled about her ‘sinful’ nature, the cost of the perfume she used, and that she was touching His feet. Yet she was passionate and focused in her actions and completely heedless of these men or their comments as she performed her act of true worship.
She did what she could.
As a woman, she knew about perfume; about how hair was considered a woman’s crowning glory; and that tears were an
acceptable way to express deep emotions which could be freely released. She used the things of which she had knowledge. She did what she could and was honored and remembered for her actions down through the ages.
How often do we feel that we don’t do enough? Or else with all that we do, that more and more activity is needed as there is always more to do? (And there always will be.)
She did what she could.
This is a lesson for us. We need to do what we are able to do - right where we are - to honor and worship Christ. Our focus, once changed to Christ, will let us see what we truly need to do and we’ll be able to do it with confidence in spite of the biting comments of those watching us and deeming our work (i.e. our act of worship) as insignificant, or as not enough.
She did what she could.
What is it that you could do to worship Him? He’s waiting for you.
(For more information about forming a relationship with the Lord, see How You Can Find Him located at the top of this page.)
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