Love:Worshipping - Podcast Day 2 Deeper GuideDaria Nardozza - 26 Mar 2013
This Easter, how will you smash the sensible for the foolish?
Reflect
Bible Reading: John 12:1-8 MSG
Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them. Jesus said, “Let her alone. She’s anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don’t always have me.”
"Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' " Matthew 22:37
“Many Spirit-filled authors have exhausted the thesaurus in order to describe God with the glory He deserves .... Isn't it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?”
Francis Chan, 'Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God'
Here we find Mary anointing Jesus, using very expensive oil as an extravagant act of worship, in order to prepare him for burial. This was a foolish waste of money to some, but for Mary it was what she needed to do and Jesus understood her heart. In this week before Easter, what extravagant act of worship can you do for Jesus? Will you ‘waste‘ something you hold precious on or for Him?
Respond
Search your heart and ask God to highlight something you hold precious that you could offer to Him. For example: give your favorite piece of clothing away, be extravagantly generous in a meal for your neighbors, write a song that only Jesus will hear, volunteer your time, leave someone a really great tip or give generously and anonymously to someone you know who is in need.
Pray
Jesus, you gave your life so that we could live.
You did for us what no one else could.
Inspire us today to think of an extravagant act of worship ...
and then give us the courage to do it.
Amen
Pete Portal is currently studying in London before heading back to be a missionary in Manenberg (Cape Town). We recently featured a testimony of Pete's where a 24-7 Prayer Room was central to seeing a cease fire between 7 gangs!