OFFERING AS AN ACT OF WORSHIP

“When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, Jesus went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”  (Luke 7:36-38 NIV)

In Luke’s Gospel, we read the story of a woman who brought to Jesus a jar of expensive perfume which she broke open and poured out on Him… as an offering. She did not have to give it, but she made a choice. She did not give from obligation, but an open heart. She did not come for an hour, put her offering in a basket, and immediately leave to go back to her daily activities. She stopped. She wasn’t too busy or distracted by the world to surrender her thanksgiving and linger with her Savior as an act of worship. This outpouring of her time cost her, but it would be repaid by an outpouring of mercy and peace from Jesus.

There are many contrasts in the passage. The Pharisees were religious and educated. The woman was sinful and wasn’t allowed to study. The Pharisees were there to question Jesus. The woman was there to worship Jesus. The Pharisees were prideful. The woman was humble. The Pharisees shunned the sinful woman. Jesus showed her mercy. Because the woman was willing to come before Jesus with her broken offering, she received wholeness and redemption. What a moment. 

-- Excerpted from “Altar’d: The Transforming Power of Surrender” by Susan O. Kent

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DISCIPLESHIP INCLUDES EVERYTHING

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV)

A disciple of Jesus is not necessarily one devoted to doing specifically religious things as that is usually understood. To repeat, I am learning from Jesus how to lead my life, my whole life, my real life.

So as His disciple I am not necessarily learning how to do religious things, either as part of “full-time service” or as a “part-time service.” My discipleship to Jesus is, within clearly definable limits, not a matter of what I do, but of how I do it. And it covers everything, “religious” or not. 

-- Dallas Willard in “The Divine Conspiracy”

#6196

ONLY THROUGH FAITH

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.”  (Galatians 2:20-21 NLT)

Trying to get right with God by keeping a bunch of religious rules is a formula for frustration and failure. First problem, whose rules? Such requirements vary from religion to religion, person to person, and generation to generation. What if you’re working from the wrong list? Second problem, how do we define what it mean to “keep” those rules? Do we have to follow them perfectly? Or are we allowed a reasonable number of mistakes and missteps? And what is considered “reasonable”? The gospel of Christ eliminates all this confusion by stating categorically that no one but Christ is good enough. Only through faith in Him, only by relying on His efforts on our behalf, do we qualify for heaven.

Father, we are not made right with You by human efforts, and we do not stay right with You by works. Remaining “in Your good graces” means counting on Christ alone to live in us. Amen. 

– Max Lucado in “Life Lessons: Galatians – Free in Christ”

#5124

IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM

"And He died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."  (2 Corinthians 5:15)

When I was in seminary, Dr. Lawson Stone preached a message in chapel that contained a simple phrase that has never left my heart and mind. In fact, it has become the defining phrase of my understanding about what life and ministry is all about: "It's not about you…it's all about HIM."

Oh, it sounds familiar to us all. We sing it in songs, old and new: "All for Jesus, all for Jesus, every day and every hour"…."Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord to Thee"…."It's all about You, Jesus, and all this is for You"… "Lord, I give You my heart, I give You my soul, I live for You alone."

But, as A.W. Tozer wrote, "Christians never tell lies…but quite often they go to church and sing them." The evidence of life so often reveals that our lives have actually become sanctified versions of the old life. [It's as if] the prodigal son comes home, gets cleaned up, and comes back to the father's house. But then he continues to make weekend trips to the faraway land, the land that symbolizes the journey away from God to the land of ME and what I want...

How easily we are deceived into living cleaned-up, religious versions of the self-centered lives that Jesus died to save us from in the first place!! Seek the Lord and ask Him to reveal this to you: Who is it really about? Is it you…or HIM?  

-- Dave Carroll, Missionary to Uganda


#4532

SPIRITUAL FORMATION

It’s tempting to describe spiritual formation in terms we can really master or regulate, like a check list or a huddle or listening to a series of recorded teachings. Such schemes can too readily become perfunctory, another sort of legalism, a way to avoid exploration and mystery, or little more than formulaic.

Being a Christian is not about us; it’s about Jesus! Spiritual formation is about the life of Jesus being made visible in our bodies; it’s about engaging the Spirit because we are hungry for God; it’s about becoming disciples so that Jesus can pour His life into us. It’s about learning to love God with our heart, mind, body, and soul. It’s about having the courage to actually follow Jesus -- to place one foot in front of the other, to dare to live a life of grace.

Paul summed it up well: “I am confident in this, that the One who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). 

-- Derek Maul in “Get Real: A Spiritual Journey for Men”


#4473

LONGING FOR GOD

“O God, You are my God,
    and I long for You.
My whole being desires You;
    like a dry, worn-out, and waterless land,
    my soul is thirsty for You.”  (Psalm 63:1 GNT)

I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people.

-- A. W. Tozer in “The Pursuit of God”

#4249