The Lord Is My Song

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Pete

Not much wiggle room. The songwriter doesn’t really provide a pass for anyone of the household of faith.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”. Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”. Let those who fear the LORD say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 118:1-4. ESV)

God is good . . . fact! His steadfast love endures forever . . . fact! Let those who fear the Lord say so . . . let the redeemed proclaim it . . . let the recipients of abundant, overflowing, all-sufficient grace declare it to be true. No wiggle room . . . no saying, “Not today, don’t feel like it.” It’s not about how we feel . . . not about our circumstances . . . but about His unchanging character. God is good.

And what grabs me this morning in this psalm is that He provides all the “material” I need to say so.

The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous . . . (Psalm 118:14-15a. ESV)

The LORD is my song! In Him is the melody . . . the chord progressions . . . the lyrics . . . the chorus . . . the bridge. His Spirit within me is the band . . . leading me in worship . . . providing the accompaniment . . . connecting the praise of earth to the throne of heaven. Glad songs are in my tent . . . by His grace . . . for His glory.

What a glorious thought . . . He is my song.

I’ll let another, far more eloquent than I, take it from here . . .

“The Lord … is my song,” says Isaiah (12:2). That is to say, the Lord is the giver of our songs. He breathes the music into the hearts of His people; He is the Creator of their joy. The Lord is also the subject of their songs. They sing of Him and of all that He does on their behalf. The Lord is, moreover, the object of their song; they sing to the Lord. Their praise is meant for Him alone. They do not make melody for human ears, but to the Lord. “The Lord … is my song.” Then I ought always to sing. And if I sing my loudest, I can never reach the height of this great argument, nor come to the end of it. This song never changes. If I live by faith my song is always the same, for “the Lord … is my song.” Our song to God is God Himself. He alone can express our intensest joy. O God, You are my exceeding joy. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are my hymn of everlasting delight.               — Spurgeon

The LORD is good . . . His steadfast love endures forever . . . let those who fear the LORD say so . . . let them sing so . . . He is our song! Amen?

Posted in Psalms | Leave a comment

So Amazing!

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Pete

We’ve been on vacation the past couple of weeks . . . hanging out with some good friends . . . enjoying the blessings of our great God. Yesterday they had to head home . . . we head back in a couple of days. Before dropping them off for their flight home, we stopped at a museum near the airport. As we got out of the car, a large jet passed over head as it approached the runway. Sue looked up and commented something like, “I’m amazed at how planes fly.” We all looked up . . . said, “Yeah” . . . and carried on. Certainly we were all amazed . . . but not really amazed. Pretty commonplace . . . our friends would be boarding one soon . . . mostly kind of amazed . . . for a moment.

And as I’m reading the last part of Galatians 5 this morning . . . as Paul fights against a heresy that claims the Christian life is somehow performance based . . . as he reveals something of the “aero dynamic” of the Holy Spirit’s active agency . . . I wonder how often I am “kind of amazed” at the Spirit’s person and work . . . when I should be jaw-dropping, really amazed!

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. . . . But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. . . . If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16, 18, 25 ESV)

I read a book this week (“Delighting in the Trinity” by Michael Reeves . . . recommend it . . . check it out) that portrayed how the Spirit wires us into the fellowship that exists between, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit . . . how He engages us in the depths of understanding of the Father’s love for the Son . . . and His desire to extend it to those His Son has redeemed as His own. As we come to know and enjoy the Spirit, we come to know and enjoy the fellowship He has with the Father and Son . . . having given us new life, the Spirit doesn’t then move on, but takes up residence within us to make that life blossom and grow.

Thus the believer can “walk by the Spirit” . . . we can be “led by the Spirit” . . . we can “live by the Spirit” . . . and, we can “keep in step with the Spirit.” Kind of amazing? . . . or really, try and wrap your head around that, type of amazing.

But, like watching an airplane land, how easy it is to just say, “Yeah, amazing” . . . and then carry on?

O’, how I want to know Him. To, more and more, recognize His voice . . . to be led by Him . . . to walk in Him . . . to keep in step with Him . . . to live in Him . . . that I might know the Son as He does . . . that I might love the Father as the Son does . . . that I might experience, to some degree, the fullness of fellowship my Triune God knows . . .

. . . that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1John 1:3. ESV)

Kind of amazing? . . . or so amazing!?!

Posted in Galatians | Leave a comment

What Do You Do Then?

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Pete

So, . . . what do you do then? . . . after you’ve counted them? . . . what then, are you supposed to do? The old hymn encourages us to “Count your blessings, name them one by one . . . count your blessings, see what God has done.” Then what? Is the exercise to be like that of a miser who pulls out his treasures from underneath his bed and lets each coin slip through his fingers as he reminds himself of all the wealth he has accumulated . . . all the money that is his? Guessin’ not. So what’s a blessed man, a blessed woman, to do with all that God has done on their behalf? I’m liking the psalmist’s suggestion . . .

What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, . . . I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD! (Psalm 116:12-13, 17-19 ESV)

After counting the blessings, I need to respond to the Blessor. I need to lift that cup of salvation which has been graced to me . . . I need to prepare offerings of thanksgiving, the “fruit” of counting my blessings . . . and I need to call on the name of the LORD.

Lift the Name high . . . give glory to all that He is . . . the Father who loves us with an everlasting love . . . the Son who paid the once for all price that He might count us as brothers and sisters . . . the Spirit, sent from heaven itself, who has taken up residence within us, leading us, making it all so real.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

And where do I raise the cup? Where do I “through Him continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name” (Heb. 13:15)? In the presence of His people, that’s where . . . in the courts of the house of the Lord . . . in the place where His presence dwells and His glory abides.

If God’s people are counting their blessings during the week, then, when we gather on the Lord’s day, why would we expect anything less than a Praise Fest? Why should the singing be lack luster . . . why shouldn’t there be “amens”, “hallelujahs”, and “preach it brothers” from a congregation holding up their cups of salvation and ready to bring their offerings of thanksgiving? Just sayin . . .

How easy might it be for me to gather with the living temple of God, Sunday after Sunday, and have nothing to offer? . . . because I didn’t count them . . . or, having counted those many blessings, I thought they were just for me . . . or, I just didn’t come prepared to offer Him the worship He is due.

O’ that God’s people would count them . . . and then know what to do then.

Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, His praise in the assembly of the godly! (Psalm 149:1)

Posted in Psalms | Leave a comment

Response of the Graced

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Pete

It’s an interesting epilogue. A final chapter in a story that could have stood alone without it . . . but a chapter determined to be written by the Author and penned through the Spirit. It’s the story of King David’s reunion with Mephibosheth, after David’s return from exile during Absalom’s rebellion. And in this final chapter of the story, I’m taken by the response of the graced.

Mephibosheth is the graced. The lame-in-both-feet son of the deceased Jonathan . . . the grandson of the deceased King Saul . . . the “other” heir to the throne . . . the natural enemy of David . . . the man to whom King David shows abundant favor “for the sake of another.” Recipient of a great inheritance . . . invitee to sit each day at the king’s table . . . a member of the royal court . . . full access to the royal provision . . . granted intimate fellowship with the king.

But David is forced to flee, and Mephibosheth is not there. Mephibosheth’s servant, Ziba, tells David it is because Mephibosheth hopes to make a play for the throne . . . untrue. So when David returns, Mephibosheth makes his way into the king’s presence . . .

And when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”. He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said to him, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself,that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ For your servant is lame. He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like the angel of God; do therefore what seems good to you. For all my father’s house were but men doomed to death before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I, then, to cry to the king?” (2Samuel 19:25-28)

And there’s the response of the graced that grabbed me . . . ” . . . do therefore what seems good to you . . . What further right have I, then, to cry to the king?”

How easy is it for the graced (aka me) to presume to bring a list of what we think we now need before the King? How prone am I to devise the plan and then deliver it to the Sovereign? Perhaps, too easy . . . too prone.

Instead, having been abundantly graced . . . having been amazingly graced . . . having been called of the King and seated at His table, . . . maybe I should relinquish any right I think I have to inform the King of how my life should play out, the life that is not my own, anyway, because it has been redeemed with a price (1Cor. 6:19-20) . . . maybe I should trust Him to do what seems good to Him.

While, in His grace, He invites me to make my petitions known . . . though, as a Father, He delights to hear His children ask . . . at the end of the day, when all is said and done, I just need to trust in the wisdom and goodness of my King . . . I need to be content that, should the streams of overflowing grace cease (though they won’t), I will be content in simply being at the King’s table . . . that the grace I’ve experienced is more than sufficient . . . that His mercies, are more than enough.

The response of the graced? I’m thinkin’ . . .

Posted in 2Samuel | Leave a comment

Making It Real

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Pete

There’s living in the theoretical . . . and then there’s living in the experiential. We can know that things are true because we are told they are true . . . and then we can KNOW that things are true because we get up close and personal with the truth. And I’m thinking that, while knowing something, can be pretty cool, that KNOWING something, can be life transforming. So, while the Bible helps me know the truth, and that can be pretty amazing . . . it is the Spirit of God who enables me to KNOW the truth . . . and that’s when the “jazz factor” kicks in . . . that’s making it real!

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:4-6. ESV)

The truth is that when we come to Christ by faith we are adopted as sons and daughters. God sent His Son to provide the means of redemption so that the lost might be found . . . that enemies might be reconciled . . . that those separated from God might be brought into His forever family. That’s the theory . . . that is the glorious truth of God’s freely offered salvation.

For those of us who have been around Christianity for awhile, we know that to be true. But God desires that we also KNOW it to be real!

Cue the active agency of the Holy Spirit of God . . . given to us as a seal, guaranteeing our inheritance (Eph. 1:13-14) . . . Who takes the head knowledge of sonship and turns it into a heartfelt cry of “Abba! Father!”

The Father doesn’t want me to just know I am His child, He wants me to KNOW I am His child. He places His Spirit, Deity Himself, within me in such a way that it connects with my spirit . . . integrates at the deepest levels of my soul . . . so that I KNOW experientially, at the deepest of my innermost being, that I am a child of God . . . and that I have been graced with the privilege of addressing the God of Creation as Father . . . as Abba, or “Daddy”, Father.

If it were only left to my ability to reason, then I might say, “No way!” . . . not me interacting with Him in such a familiar and familial way. But the Spirit of the Son, interacting with my Spirit, cries out, “Yes way!!” . . . Jesus says, I have always KNOWN the reality of the love of the Father . . . and through My Spirit you can KNOW it too.

Too much for my brain to handle, perhaps . . . but my heart KNOWs it . . . as it hears the Spirit crying, “Abba Father!”

One of those things that’s easier felt than tell’t. But I know it’s true . . . and I KNOW it’s true.

By His grace . . . through His Spirit . . . for His glory. Amen?

Posted in Galatians | Leave a comment

He Knows

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Pete

It’s a short reading in my plan this morning . . . just 7 verses . . . 7 familiar verses . . . 7 kinda repetitive verses . . . something I might normally do a “read and go” with. But not this morning . . . this morning something (or, Someone?) caused me to pause . . . prompted me to hover. And what hits me this morning . . . as I read of Peter’s epic failure . . . is that He knows.

And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept. (Mark 14:70-72 ESV)

Peter blew it . . . big time! Not once . . . not twice . . . but three times . . . three times he denies any association with the Master! And you sense it’s not just a sheepish, whispered, “Uh, don’t think I recollect every coming across Him” . . . but a pound your chest, call upon heaven to bear witness, “I never knew Him!” Like I said . . . epic fail! Three X’s from the judges . . . you don’t go on to the next round . . . the sort of stuff that I might consider worthy of disqualification.

But as I chew on it, I recall that Jesus knew it was going to happen . . .

Peter said to Him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” (Mark 14:29-30 ESV)

And it’s not like Jesus knew just then . . . only 40 verses before it would happen. But Jesus knew when He called Peter to follow Him . . . He knew when He commended Peter for Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Christ . . . He knew when He took Peter up the mount and permitted Peter to behold the Christ in His transfigured glory . . . He knew Peter would blow it when He entrusted to Peter the things of the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus, God incarnate, knew . . . and yet He still chose Him. He yet determined to reveal HImself as Christ to this rough fisherman . . . He didn’t alter from His plan to have impetuous Peter there with Him on the mount with Moses and Elijah . . . He didn’t waver from purposing to use this servant to gather to Himself His bride.

And as I noodle on the fact that He knew . . . I know He knows. He knows my epic fails . . . my less then best . . . my trip ups and crash-‘n-burns. He’s always known. And yet, He still called me . . . has patiently been conforming me . . . has graciously made provision for my “learning curve” with the ever-atoning, ever-cleansing blood of Christ.

And I think I get Peter breaking down and weeping . . . no minimizing the reality of transgressing against the Savior we love. But being reminded that He knew, and always knew . . . that He knows and yet still calls me to keep on keepin’ on . . . that if I confess my epic fails, that the blood is sufficient, that He is faithful and just to forgive my sin (1John 1:9) . . . to know that He knows, makes all the difference.

O’ the grace of God . . . to call such a one as I . . . knowing all He knows about me . . . and yet He desires to adopt me as His son . . . to use me as His servant . . . to determine, that despite my worst, and despite the feebleness of my best, His purposes will be accomplished in and through me. He knows . . . and He has always known. O’ what a Savior!

For His glory alone . . .

Posted in Mark | Leave a comment

Hamstringing Grace

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Pete

I look up the word and then wonder over the phrase. “To do away with . . . to disregard . . . to make void . . . to set aside . . . to frustrate” or, as the ESV translates it, to “nullify.” And I wonder at the possibility of any man or woman being able to “nullify” any of God’s great woks. But such is the nature of grace.

For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.   (Galatians 2:19-21. ESV)

The problem with the Galatians was that they were buying into “another gospel” which really wasn’t “good news” at all (Gal. 1:7) . . . “good news” that what had been begun by the Spirit was to be perfected in the flesh. Or to rewrite the hymn, though grace might “save a wretch like me,” it would take something more, like my adherence to law, “to lead me home.”

And, if I’m understanding what Paul’s saying, once I kick into self-propelled mode, I nullify . . . frustrate . . . disregard . . . make void . . . hamstring the grace of God.

Not that I become unsaved . . . not that I diminish the self-sacrificing, unconditional love of God . . . but that I put a stick in the spokes of the wheel of the agency of God’s abundant grace. Relying on my efforts to get this Christianity thing down pat doesn’t undo saving grace . . . but it hamstrings sanctifying grace . . . and erects barriers to sustaining grace.

If the life I now live I live by confidence in my discipline . . . if I think that righteousness can be realized by my efforts . . .if it is still me who lives in me . . . if somehow I think I can take it from here . . . then grace is nullified. The amazing, abundant grace of God can be stymied by puny little me. That’s frightening!

But when I believe that the salvation that begun by faith will mature by faith . . . when I trust that the work that began by the Spirit of God will be completed through the Spirit of God . . . when I count myself as crucified with Christ, that I no longer live, but embrace that He lives in me, and that the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God . . . then watch out! Grace abounds . . . the work of grace is effectual . . . the fruit of grace becomes evident . . . and the glory of grace is directed entirely to Him who is the source of grace.

By faith alone . . . in grace alone.

Posted in Galatians | Leave a comment

Like One of the King’s Sons

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Pete

He really had no business being there. First, it’s not like he was family or anything . . . no blood connection . . . no obligation to include him. What’s more, he was lame in both feet . . . a cripple . . . not like he was going to contribute to the strength of the royal court, or anything. And finally, he was the grandson of a defeated rival . . . heir to a competing royal line who once occupied the throne . . . if anything, this stranger, cripple in both feet, might be considered an enemy, a threat.

But there he was . . . eating at the king’s table . . . just like one of the king’s sons.

The story of Mephibosheth (2Samuel 9) never ceases to move me. David, having secured his hold on the throne . . . king over all Israel . . . conqueror over Israel’s enemies . . . determines that he wants to show kindness to any survivor of Saul’s house, “for Jonathan’s sake.”

Jonathan, the son of King Saul — heir to the throne, had been David’s friend . . . Jonathan had been his number one cheerleader in the early days . . . Jonathan had shielded him from his father’s wrath . . . and had encouraged him in the Lord when things were at their most desperate. And Jonathan had died in battle . . . along with his father.

And so, for the sake of Jonathan . . . for the sake of another . . . David desires to show kindness.

Enter Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son . . . lame in both feet since age 5 . . . dropped by his nurse as they fled after the defeat and death of Saul and his dad (2Sam. 4:4). Could have been a somebody . . . ended up being a nobody. Grew up without a father . . . grew up without a future. He who might have been royalty, was destined to be a beggar. And then, someone determines to show kindness to him for the sake of another. Can anyone say, “Grace!”

Though a natural enemy to his throne, David instead spares his life . . . whew! And then, David restores to him an inheritance, giving him all the land once owned by the family of Saul . . . what? And then again, David says, “And you shall eat at my table always” (v.7) . . . no way!!!

Yup . . . that’s kind of how grace works. Enemies, deserving of death, given life . . . impoverished beggars, incapable of helping themselves, bequeathed an inheritance beyond imagination . . . those of another bloodline, undeserving of even looking upon royalty, invited to eat at the king’s table.

So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons. (2Samuel 9:11b ESV)

That’s how grace works . . . favor shown for the sake of another . . . I should know. I too have been invited to dine at the King’s table . . . not because of who I am . . . not because of what I bring to the table . . . despite that I was once an enemy. But because He, in His Sovereign purposes, has determined to show abundant kindness to this guy who’s “lame in both feet” . . . and has seated him at the table . . . seated together with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:5-7) . . . like one of the King’s sons.

To Him be glory alone!

Posted in 2Samuel | Leave a comment

Don’t Play With Fire

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Pete

They were playing with fire . . . and someone got burned. The action that resulted in the consequence was not the root cause . . . instead, disaster was waiting to happen because they were loose with the ways of God. It was a note in my study Bible that pointed it out.

I’m reading in 2Samuel 6 this morning . . . the story of Uzzah putting his hand on the ark of God . . . and God striking him down because of it. Seems kind of harsh. No malintent. The oxen stumbled . . . the cart dipped . . . the ark wobbled . . . instinctively, Uzzah reaches out to steady the ark. Bam! Uzzah’s on the ground . . . David’s upset . . . project “Bring the Ark to Jerusalem” is halted in its tracks.

Ok . . . so its not like the LORD hadn’t made it clear through Moses that when transporting the articles of the tent of meeting (that includes the ark) that “they must not touch the holy things, lest they die” (Num. 4:15). But, come on, it was going to fall over! What’s a guy supposed to do?

But, as the note in my Bible, points out, the real issue was in how they chose to transport the ark of the covenant . . .

And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart . . . (2Samuel 6:2-3a ESV)

Yeah it was new cart . . . a clean cart . . . but that’s not how they were to transport the place where the glory of God resided . . . that upon which the Majesty of Heaven inhabited. The ark was to be carried by the Levites using poles placed through rings on the sides of the ark (Ex. 25:14-15). So where did the idea of using a cart pulled by oxen come from? The Philistines. That’s how they returned the ark to Israel after they realized the presence of God in their midst wasn’t working for them (1Sam. 6:7). They were using the methods deemed reasonable by people who were not the people of God.

That was the fire David & Co. were playing with . . . being careless concerning the holiness of God. Though they sought to worship the true God . . . they didn’t discern the holiness of the God they worshiped. They set themselves up for failure . . . and Uzzah was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

And I’m thinking it’s a warning to those of us invited into the Holy of Holies through the blood of Jesus . . . for us who have perhaps become somewhat familiar with hanging out in the presence of God . . . for us who might take our cue from the world in how to approach the God of heaven.

Don’t play with fire . . .

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29 ESV)

Though Jesus would call me ‘friend” . . . though I have been adopted as God’s child and through the Spirit can call to Him, “Daddy Father” . . . though I am clothed with the righteousness of Christ . . . yet He is still God . . . Holy, Holy, Holy God.

. . . you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. . . . as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (2Peter 2:5, 1:15-16 ESV)

Father, You are holy . . . keep me from regarding You as anything less . . . keep me from playing with fire . . . by Your grace . . . for Your glory . . .

Posted in 2Samuel | Leave a comment

A Beautiful Thing

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Pete

I want to be like her when I grow up. Independent of thought . . . quietly courageous . . . unencumbered by what others might think. I want to model her resolve . . . I want to emulate her self-sacrificialness (is that a word?). At the end of the day, just as she heard, how I would love to hear Him say of me, “He has done a beautiful thing!”

I so enjoy encountering Mark 14 for the first time all over again (as I do Matt. 26, John 12, and Luke 7). I start reading the passage and the words “extravagant worship” come to mind almost immediately. As I read, I try and settle in and imagine the scene . . . and try and take in what must have been an overwhelming aroma as the broken flask of fine perfume was poured out on the Master’s head and it’s fragrance filled the house.

And while other’s thought she acted foolishly or wastefully or impetuously, Jesus said, “She has done a beautiful thing.”

And though the aroma of her sacrifice would pass . . . though the place of her offering would become dust . . . though her detractors would fall silent in the grave . . . the memory of her extravagant worship would be preserved in the annals of heaven forever. Not that it was necessarily recorded amongst the “top 10” acts of worship. . . not that it stands out in terms of who she was . . . not that it was even the most expensive or extravagant of offerings ever made. Instead it was to be associated with the gospel . . . and it was to be marked by the fact that she offered what she could.

But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to Me. . . . She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”   (Mark 14:6-8 ESV)

Where the good news of God’s abundant grace is considered . . . so is the response of a woman touched by that grace. Where the story of the Son of God, sent as a Lamb to redeem to Himself a people, is told . . . so is the story told of a sheep who, knowing her Shepherd’s voice, desires only to exalt Him.

And, it’s less about the fact that her offering was costly, I think . . . but more about her doing what she could. Offering what she had . . . not holding back. It could just as easily been the giving of two small copper coins (Mark 14:41-44) . . . the issue being less about the offering than about the offerer and the One to whom the offering is made. The quality of worship measured not by the cost, but about the heart.

I want to be like her.

It is a beautiful thing . . . worthy of a Beautiful Savior.

Amen?

Posted in Mark | Leave a comment