Spend time today reflecting upon the worthiness and wonder of Jesus, and let your heart be renewed with praise and gratitude. May the same be true of us today! Let us serve the Lord faithfully and selflessly, but never as a distraction or replacement for our primary devotion to Him. It is a heart that sees the unsurpassed beauty of Christ and cannot help but offer complete devotion in response. Judas accused her of excessive devotion to Jesus! Yet to this criticism Jesus responds, “Leave her alone.” He knows that her offering of love comes from a heart that is on fire with love for God. Is our heart filled with the same love for Jesus that we are willing to do the same? And because of her clarity of heart and mind, she holds nothing back in showing her love and devotion to Him.
With perfect vision she sees the glory, power, and beauty of Jesus. Mary is a picture of pure, undistracted, and complete devotion to Jesus. This story is told to direct our attention fully on Mary of Bethany and the love she has for the Lord Jesus. Yet none of these characters are the focus of this story. And we meet Judas Iscariot, whose heart is so corrupt that he desires to steal money that was meant to be used to serve the poor. We meet Lazarus who is reclining at the table. We meet Martha who is busily serving dinner to Jesus and the guests. It’s possible to do good things for God but separate them from an intimate and personal knowledge of Him. We can volunteer at church, attend a small group, or read daily devotions, but we may still find ourselves distracted from our singular desire to know and love God. Yet at times this distraction is far less intentional or obvious! Sometimes this distraction comes in the midst of good and holy things. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to lose focus in our Christian lives? Sometimes due to the hardness of our hearts, we turn away from the Lord and pursue our own selfish desires in explicitly disobedient ways. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – March 17, 2016
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