A GIFT OF LOVE

John 12:1-50
Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. 2There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. 3Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, 5"Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" 6This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. 7But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."

In the book of John there is a wonderful account of a woman that gave a gift of love to Jesus. She was not the first woman to approach Jesus and pour out her love to Him. The first had been a woman with a bad reputation. Simon, the host of the dinner knew who she was and questioned in his heart how Jesus, if He was indeed a prophet, how could He let this woman touch Him. Jesus defended her and accepted her display of love as the repentance it was meant to be.
The second woman is unidentified by Matthew and Mark but John reveals that it is Mary, the sister of Lazarus.(12:3) This is not a woman that had a bad reputation. She had made it a habit to sit at the feet of Jesus. She did not come with a need for forgives but the need to express her love to Jesus. There are four things that we need to learn from her action and her expression of love to Jesus so that we can express our own love more effectively

First, it was daring. She comes into a room that was full of men. Women were only admitted to serve and then they were to leave. Mary is not concerned with what others thought. She was determined to show Jesus her love. It is possible, even probable that she was the only one in the room besides Jesus that understood that these were the last days that Jesus would spend with them. In order to be daring one must be Oblivious to self and to their reputation in the eyes of others. Mary let down her hair. (Matthew and Mark)This would be unheard of and there were those that were probably offended in her abandonment. But Mary chose to humble herself before Jesus and in front of others because she wanted to bless Him. This was between her and Jesus. No one else or what they thought mattered. The Bible says Humble yourself in the sight of the lord and he shall lift you up. Jam 4:10 Mary didn't have a towel and she didn't look for one. She wiped the feet at which she had sat at, with her hair. (vs.3)

Secondly it was costly. The price for the ointment she used was three hundred denarii (pence in Mat and Mark), almost a years wages.(vs5) It was a pound of this ointment and it was in an alabaster jar (Matthew and Mark). The alabaster jar was both precious and fragile. It was sealed in such a way that it could not just be opened and a little poured out. It was all or nothing and she broke it and poured it all out. She kept nothing back. Matthew and Mark say it was upon His head. (Mat 26/Mar 14) Joh.12:3 says that she anointed His feet. How do we reconcile the difference? She did both! Some believe that as she poured it out and it dripped (accidentally) onto his feet. Others believe she poured it out on his head and so much poured out that it dripped upon his feet. The point is... She did it!!! This was not a common gift and it did not just cost a little or nothing. It was one of sacrifice. We can hear the sentiment in the words of David,

“Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 2 Samuel 24:24 (NKJV)

Thirdly it was deliberate. It was something she chose to do whether the ointment was bought for this purpose or not is not known. It does not change the value, more or less. The point is that it was a decision on her part to give an offering of her love. This was not something that she had to do or was forced to do. It was not expected but in fact just the opposite. It was quite unexpected

Fourthly it was lasting. This is actually a result of the first three actions that Mary took. But consider this, because she poured out the whole gift on Him and it went over his head and upon his clothes and then on to His feet. It was at His feet where she wiped the excess away. There was an excess that covered Him. His hair and clothes bore the perfume of her love during the whole time …
• of His passion in the garden
• At his trials
• After his scourging
• All the way up the hill of Golgatha
• The terrible hours during his death
• Jesus was reminded of her love
Now let us consider the gift of our life to Jesus, because that is really what He is interested in.

First, is it daring or is governed by what others think? Do we not show our love or have any open display of it because of what other think? Or do we love Him with abandon and have little care of our own reputation? Is it oblivious to self and others and all we can think,

Second, is it costly? Is it our first and best or do we give what is leftover and not needed? Can we say that no price or service is too great or do we give God only what is left over, convenient and comfortable? We need to set aside our comfort and convenience and live out our love for the savior. We need to be less concerned about what we will get and be more concerned about what we can spend upon our Savior, simply because His love is worth it. Are you willing to sacrifice all for Him?

Third, is the gift of our life and love something deliberate or random and accidental? Is our love given freely and is our worship planned as well as spontaneous? People are deliberate about their jobs, their vacations and play times are thought out and executed with great care but their relationship with God “just happens.” Is our life given to Jesus with reluctance because everyone expects it? Or maybe because we feel like, well, we have to do something.

Fourth, is this life we are living and say that we are giving to God lasting or momentary? Is what we are working for lasting or will it only last and be remembered as long as we are there to perpetuate it. Are the things we give God eternal or temporal and only to appease Him. To do our duty so we can point to something and say, see “I love God”

Expect the Judas's (and other disciples) that will be there to question your motive and there will be those that will be quick to misrepresent your motive and love. Please my friend, let Jesus defend you and He will. Just as He stood for the woman with the bad reputation as well as the woman that was His friend He will stand for you. There will be those that will ask why you are wasting your time, your money and your life on Jesus. They will not understand and they will see it as a waste but Jesus will see it for the love it is and will remember it. And as you pour out your life as a fragrant gift of love as you give Him anything out of love you will find that the excess of your love for Him will remain on you. Your life will have the fragrance of love that people will notice. They will know that there is something different. And it will be lasting. Just as Jesus said of Mary may it be said of us…

I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." MAT 26:13

Heat Exhaustion

Just recently I experienced what I believe to be heat exhaustion. Now admittedly, this is a self diagnosis. I am stubborn when it comes to going to the doctor and such. I watch myself pretty well and eat pretty well. I have become very conscious of my sugar intake and white flour and such. I have cut way down on eating candy and cookies and sweets. I am, what I would say, in pretty good shape. My one vice, if it is a vice, would be coffee and I have cut down how much I drink over the years but still drink about five cups a day. I love a good cup of coffee and I am quicker to drink coffee than water.

My problem all started with digging a hole in the back yard for a post. The place I chose turned out to be extremely rocky but I was working in evening and though it was hot the sun was down. I sipped at my coffee as I worked. When I went into the house my wife had come home and asked if I had listened to the phone. “It’s buzzing.” The last time the phone was buzzing was when I cut into the line when doing some work in the back yard. So the next morning I went out to see what I had done because the night before the hole was filled with water. I could not see any line so I dug out the sides. Still nothing and by now it was getting hot. We concluded that it must be the repair from last year gone bad. The next morning I began to dig where I thought the problem was and ended up digging a trench about two feet deep and about twenty feet long. I never found the line. We decided to call the phone company and it turned out to be a “carbon” (a fuse) in the box. Yikeballs! All that work and now I had to fill up the trench. As it happened I did it in the later part of Friday morning, went to work and then in evening at about five o’clock I went to help pack my daughter and son-in-law’s possessions into the back of a rented truck so they could leave for Oregon the next morning. Because I have a knack for packing, another fellow and I stayed in the back of the truck and the boxes were slid over to us to pack. We did this for several hours. This was all in a week when the temperatures were in the 100’s by eight in the morning and reached 120 by two in the afternoon and didn’t cool off to the 90’s until well after dark.

My problem was not so much the work but that I did not drink enough water. I sipped my coffee in the morning when I had been digging and filling the trench and had a glass or two of water but not much. When I was in the back of the truck I drank one or two twelve ounce bottles of water but did not think much about it. At about eight that evening most all the packing was done and I went home, had something to eat and went to dinner. The next morning I woke and read my bible and then worked on the computer for a while. About an hour after I woke up I began to shiver so I went to get a shirt on but by the time I got to the room I crawled under the covers and shivered uncontrollably until I fell asleep. I got up later feeling tire but I had a memorial service to go to and I had to finish my sermon for in the morning. As soon as I finished my work I went home and was soon in bed. The next morning, Sunday, I went to church, determined to preach and attend the staff meeting. I should have just let my assistant take the service because I was too sick. The staff shooed me out and I went home to sleep, off and on, for the next thirty hours. I went to work on Tuesday but had to go home by early afternoon. I had eaten very little because I had no appetite. I was miserable and even at this writing I still do not feel the way I should. So what is the point?

Just these, relating it spiritually, many Christians suffer from spiritual heat exhaustion. They are in the heat of battle or the heat of service (or both) and don’t drink enough Living Water to keep their bodies spiritually hydrated. They drink in other things like books and music and devotionals but they never spend time at the Well of Living Water and drink deeply or often, just glassfuls here and there. They have a glassful in the morning but if they miss they think they will be all right. They will just have one tomorrow morning but then tomorrow morning comes and they miss again. They might have a good long drink on Wednesday or Sunday morning but they get to the place where they are not drinking the water and just as water is what our physical bodies need to survive, flush toxins, replenish and refresh so our spiritual lives need the water of the Word and to drink deeply of the Living Water. They don’t allow the Holy Spirit to poor the Living Water into them at times of private prayer and fellowship.

So now we have little water in our “spiritual” systems and then we get into a heated spiritual warfare we don’t expect and our strength fails. We serve in our own strength for long times and we become exhausted. We find ourselves, shivering uncontrollably, huddled in a corner trying to figure out what is wrong with us. We have lost our strength, our appetite and our desire to do anything but sleep. We even isolate ourselves because we have no interest in fellowship. This happens all because we neglect regular, deep drinking of the Water of the Word. We have sweat it out and poured it out in tears. There is nothing there because we have not put it back

We need to visit the Well every day without fail. We need to drink deep and often. We cannot be satisfied with just the other spiritual “beverages.” They are fine, and like coffee have a place and a time but we cannot find our strength in that just like we cannot expect to have spiritual strength from just listening to music or reading devotionals, we must read the word. We also must spend time with Jesus and ask Him for the water that He gives.
Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." John 4:10 (NKJV)
Let it hydrate your heart and replenish your spirit so that even in the unexpected times you will be able to enter into the heat of battle or the heat of service and not fail. But the way, it must be remembered that you cannot miss the drinking of Living Water while you battle or while you serve or you will find yourself exhausted. The day to day prepares you but when the battle or the service increases so must your intake of Living Water

John 7:37-39 (NKJV) On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." 39But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Rev. 22:17 (NKJV)
And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires let him take the water of life freely.

Looking Back at Mistakes and disappointment

My friend Deiana posted a quote from Mark Twain that caused me some immediate thoughts. I was going to just make a comment about looking back but one comment became two and then they grew too quickly and had to become this post. The quote was:

"Тwenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

My first reaction to that thought was that it was curious how when I looked back that many of the things that I remember with joy, fondness, down right laughter, were things that were accidents, mistakes and at the time painful experiences.

When I was a much younger man I would take my family camping. I desperately wanted to be their hero and planned many things to prove to them I was. Many of the planned things backfired but some didn't. However it was in the unplanned situations I found myself having to be the hero and I was. But not only did I become the hero, those are the situations that we remember with the greatest fondness and have the deepest humor. This story is about one of those time.

We were camping in the mountains in northern California. We heard about a lake nearby and decided to pack an evening dinner and go fishing. The plan was that we would watch the time and get back in plenty of time. We found the place to park and the trail head to the lake and started up the trail. At one point the trail we followed took us by a lodge that we had eaten at and then went on to the lake where we were to enjoy the evening. While my family walked along and chattered about the birds and the trees and flowers, I watched the trail. They hoped to see deer and other animals and I concentrated on landmarks so that we could get back because the trail twisted and turned and intersected with other trails. I remembered boulders by the trail and broken branches on trees. I tried to remember the twists and turns.

Because it was summer the sun stayed up late but we left the little lake with plenty of time because the sunlight would quickly become lost in the shadow of the trees. I began to direct my family home. I was the guide and I thought I knew the trail. As you may have already suspected, I missed a turn or something, misread a landmark or went the wrong way when the trails intersected and we began to go around in circles. Even by this time in our marriage, my dear wife would explain to the children, "shush children, we are just on adventure." They were quieted by her words but for me is painfully meant, "Shush children, Daddy is trying to figure out this mess we are in." Now let me be very clear, that is not what she meant at all but that was the way I made it. No because of anything she said because of my own ill conceived perception of myself.

I was the guide but now all the things that I thought were so different to guide the way began to blend. What I thought was a peculiar little tree or an odd looking rock turned out to look like every other tree and rock along the trail. Then we began to see the same tree or rock and I looked down ahead of where we were walking and saw little tennis shoe prints in the dust of the trail. Then i noticed the markings of my own boots. I realized we were going in circles and so I took a fork at the next trail intersection. Suddenly we broke in to the clearing of the little lodge. Yay, we were safe! But our car was still about a half a mile away and we were not out of the woods yet. (The pun WAS intended!).

Now our choices were to walk along the two way road which would be OVER a half a mile or take a trail back into the woods. There was a fellow at the lodge that said it would be a straight trail and it would be LESS than a half a mile. Throw into the choice that the sun is almost gone. The trail was also supposed to follow the road. We had no flashlight but we decided to go the shorter trail, walk quickly, and get to our destination. (Sounds like a sin illustration coming on... but I will leave that to you to see). So we plunged back into the forest and quickly, into the darkness as well. For some time we did walk along the road but then the road went one way and we went the other. It was high above us and seemed impossible to climb to so we were committed to going forward. We had gone to far and it was too dark to go back. Boy, now we were really having an adventure. Finally we came to a place where we could see the road, again. It was still high above us but the fear that the darkness brought, tripping over things and the unknown things lurking about in the darkness caused us to scramble up the hill. After climbing and sliding back and climbing again we finally found our way to the higher road. We had wasted time and had experienced fear but now we were safe. Even though the sun had gone down we could now see clearly to walk. We checked everyone for scratches and bruises and continued on to the car. After what seemed like forever we came to the parking lot. There was our car, sitting all alone, and my son CJ went running up to it and kissed the bumper and said, We are saved! I'm so glad to see you, car!"

We were tired and we had been afraid, I had many personal feelings because of what I felt I had put my family through but when we all stood there at the car we all felt a sense of accomplishment. We had overcome our adversities. We had conquered the forest, well almost. At least we escaped from it.

We now look back at that time with a fondness, joy, humor and a place of growth. Each of us grew that night in our own way. I grew in humility and yet also in determination to learn to take better care of my family. My wife grew in her ability to lift me up at a time when she could have easily torn me down. She learned to encourage and even trust me though all the outward signs said, scream your head off and cry! My children learned to be brave and to submit and to trust. And we all grew in prayer! The mistake actually turned out to be the best memory of the trip. That was over twenty years ago.

We could have missed so very much together had we allowed that to be our last "adventure". It wasn't, but that will be for another time.We could have played things safe and never done that kind of thing again but we would have missed a lot. But as a I look back at that event and the things connected to it, I am not disappointed. But I am disappointed by the things that are not there to look back at, laugh at and remember because we never did them. I don't remember anything that we ever did that disappointed us. We have never been disappointed in the adventures we have taken or the adventures that have happened. Some have been better than others but they all have memories connected to them we would never give up. My wife has come to say that life is a journey but it is also a great adventure. Don't miss it by being afraid you will be disappointed.

As Mr. Twain pointed out you will be more disappointed by what you did not do than what you did.

I would rather do something and say, "Eh, it was not so good," than to say, "Gee,I don't know, I missed my opportunity to find out."

Get out of the harbor. It will always be there when you get back. go on an adventure. Don't fear the storms, enjoy them, Sail cautiously when you must but when you can, open you sails and let the wind blow. Even your shipwrecks will become part of the grand adventure...maybe even the best part.