Anointed Jesus’ Feet

We read about a lady that anointed Jesus’ feet in Luke 7:36-50, “Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, ‘This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.’

And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’

So he said, ‘Teacher, say it.’

‘There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?’

Simon answered and said, ‘I suppose the one whom he forgave more.’

And He said to him, ‘You have rightly judged.’ Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.’

Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’

And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’

Then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.’”

I think most of us would answer as the Pharisee did, as far as the debtor’s story goes, saying the one forgiven most will love most.  We are not told much about the woman, outside of the fact that she was a sinner and she lived in that city.  She might have been a wealthy woman because of the expensive ointment she poured on Jesus’ feet.  Her weeping was a sign of repentance.  She could have heard of Jesus’ miracles or even witnessed some of them.  All that the Pharisee seemed to see was a sinner, and even though she did fit that description, he fit in that same category also, but didn’t even know it, for he couldn’t see his own sins.  He didn’t have any problem seeing her sins, and had no problem standing in judgment of her and Jesus also.  

Then Jesus did something only He could do, he forgave her of all of her sins, how excited she must have been.  Read what it says in Romans 4:7, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.”

This could only be done by Christ’s atoning work on the cross, praise the Lord!!  Jesus didn’t say that her tears or her love saved her, no, it was her faith.  Read what it says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

How grateful are you for the Lord’s mercy and grace towards you and His forgiveness?  How much do you love Him?  Something to think about!  Have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!

Making a Difference

We that are believers are called to be salt and light to the world, so that they may see our good works and glorify our Heavenly Father.  Read Matthew 5:13-16, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Salt makes a difference in the food we eat; it gives it flavor and makes it taste better.  If we put salt on the sidewalk in the winter where ice has accumulated, it will melt the ice and make it safer to walk on.  Salt also preserves food, making it last longer without spoiling.  Salt does other things also but whatever you use it for it makes a difference; if it gets on metal it will cause it to rust which we don’t like to see happen when it gets on our cars and many other things, but like I said, it always makes a difference wherever it’s applied.

Believers are called to be salt and that means that we should make a difference in our Christian walk and in our attitudes, our words and our actions.  If we are so much like the world that people can’t see the difference and we have no effect on our neighbors or the world around us, we become worthless.  Believers should stand out and be different and not blend in with the world.  We are to be in the world but not of the world.  We should affect our neighbors and the world around us in a positive way, like salt does with food.

When it comes to light, what do we use it for?  To brighten things up!  When it gets dark, we turn lights on to dispel the darkness so we can see and function better.  We are not the source of the light, but we need to reflect the light so that others will see our good deeds and the Lord will receive the glory because of them.  There are people that are listening and watching our lives to see if we live by what we claim.  I have heard it said that I would rather see a sermon than hear one anytime and I believe there are many people that feel that way.  We should never present ourselves as the light, but we should point others to the true light that came into the world, namely Jesus Christ.  You can see the light of a city on a hill at night for miles and ship captains can see a lighthouse for a long way off, they are there for a purpose and they are not hidden.

We also are here for a purpose and that is to let the light of our Savior shine through us to this dark, decaying and sinful world.  Don’t let sin tarnish the light that is within you; repent and confess it and turn from it so that you will reflect all the radiance of light within you, for there are many that need to see it.

Something to think about!  Have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!  PS don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!!

Busyness

Think about your day, how busy are you?  Think about your responsibilities and the time you spend doing all the things that need to get done.  Juggling work and family, if you have one, is a full time job.  You may have activities outside of these things; like jogging or other types of sport activities that you are involved with, or maybe you volunteer some of your time in other things that you feel are important, and maybe they are.

Do you ever think that sometimes you can be so busy with things that you miss out on what is the most important thing that you can be doing, which is spending time with the Lord, if you are a believer?  I am not saying that the things you are doing are not important and also need to be done, but sometimes we get our priorities mixed up and we lose the balance.  We need to be able to accomplish all these things and still grow in our walk with the Lord.

It says this in Psalms 127:1-2, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep.”

There is nothing wrong with human effort but, regardless of what we try to accomplish as believers, we need to involve the Lord in it.  It will take spending time with the Lord if we want His help and His blessings on what we are trying to accomplish.  If you believe that the Lord is interested in all you do, then you will want to include Him in your activities and that will take spending time with Him on a daily basis.  

When man was building the Tower of Babel, they were depending on themselves and their talents and if you know the story, you know how far that got them.  You can find the story in Genesis 11:1-9, “Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”

This was a great undertaking, a wonder of the world, but it was accredited to man without the Lord’s involvement.  Then, when the Lord chose to get involved, the work ended and was never accomplished.

Now think about the temple Solomon built; it was beautiful because he worked with the Lord and did as the Lord instructed.  You can read about it in 1 Kings Chapter 6, Solomon was able to finish it with the Lord’s help.  

I believe if you are going to build a church or a ministry, or even a Christian family or marriage, and you want it to be fruitful and prosper, you will need to get the Lord involved and seek His guidance and do your part and trust Him for the outcome.  This may take some priority adjusting on our part, but without it we are doomed to failure.  We should daily spend time with Jesus, seeking His will for our lives in prayer and study of the Word.  Sometimes we need to be sitting at Jesus’ feet listening for His directions.

Think of Martha and Mary, when Jesus visited them in Luke 10:38-42, “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’

And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.’”

Martha was busy with so many things that she was missing out on the best thing, spending time with Jesus, listening to Him.  Sometimes we get our priorities mixed up and we try to accomplish things on our own because we are so busy.  Jesus wasn’t blaming Martha for her concern about household chores, but she needed to set her priorities in the right order and so do we.  We need to be careful that our service to the Lord doesn’t take away our devotion to the Lord.  Something to think about!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!

Revive Us Again

Does the church need to be revived in our country?  I think if the truth were told, there would be story after story of believers that are really struggling because of one problem or many, and are having a hard time coping with their struggles.  I heard some testimonies not long ago of how some had a hard year last year. Think about all the churches that have closed their doors, then think about all the young people that leave the church for some reason or other when they get into college, I think it is something like seventy or seventy five percent, and what about the adults.  

When you think about the church and how it was started in the book of Acts, it was said about them that they turned the whole world upside down; I haven’t heard that about the church today. It seems like the church has been sleeping and slumbering.

Jesus said this in Matthew 5:43-45, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

These verses talk of loving your enemies and praying for those who despitefully use you and bless them.  How can we do that when we can’t even love those that are in the church?  Think about this; how many people that are in the church have you reached out to or have you even talked to?  There are many people in the church that are hurting and could use some encouragement; maybe a shoulder to cry on, or someone just to listen and to pray for them and just be a friend.  

Don’t think I am just speaking to you, because I am speaking to me also.  I know that some people are hard to get along with and I think I fall into that category at times.  But, if all we do is belong to clicks, and fellowship with only those that agree with us, then we become like the ostrich that sticks his head in the sand and ignores everyone and everything else that is going on around them.  

There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors and we could benefit by loving a variety of people and so could everyone else.  It is so easy to be self-centered, thinking that we don’t need anyone; but in the church we need every part of the body and every part of the body needs us.  It is easy to say you love, but if you do, people will know it by your actions, not by your words.  We are so used to hearing about love in the church that we say it mechanically, without even thinking about what it really means.  I say revive us again Lord so that we will know what love really means and not just say it, but not say it until we really mean it, and wake up the church so we may be all that you have called us to be.  

If we want a revival I believe this is what we need to do, read 2 Chronicles 7:14, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

I know God was talking to King Solomon at this time, but I think this needs to happen in each of our lives also, if we want to see a revival in the body of Christ.  True repentance is more than talk, it is a changed behavior.  Do you want to see a revival in your life and in the body of Christ?  This is my prayer for me and the body of Christ and I hope you will join me in this endeavor.

Something to think about!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!