{Pour} Wasting it all on Him

DAY TWO (CONT'D from Unveiled Treasures Day One)

If you have been a Christian for any amount of time you know quite well that you will encounter people who think you are a fool for living and believing as a Christian.  Eighteen years ago, I almost lost all my friends in the beginning of accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior; however, it wasn't the accepting of Him that made me look like a fool to others.  It was the changes in the way I lived that alarmed people.  It made them feel uncomfortable and abandoned by me.  I didn't set out to confuse my relationships with others, after all, I loved my friends deeply; but when the light of Jesus penetrates the depths of your soul and you are awakened to the fact that the weight of your sin is forgiven, removed and you are washed completely clean something changes you from the inside out.  Something compels you to want to live out what the bible says. It's not that you feel like you have to make changes in your life but rather a feeling where you desire to make changes in your life.
 
Several years ago, I was at home on the floor crying out to God in prayer for more of Him.  All of a sudden I heard His still small voice say, "Are you willing to be a fool for me?"  Without hesitation I confidently said, "Yes, Lord."  I must say I kind of chuckled at the question because that was an easy question to answer.  I had already looked like a fool to so many around me over the years of being a Christian.  But then God asked me another question, "Are you willing to be a fool for me in front of My people?"  I took a quick deep breath in.  I repeated the question in my head with a long sigh and slowly repeated it again, "a fool for You in front of Your people?”  Looking like a fool was easy in front of people who didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus and didn't fully know biblical truth but looking like a fool in front of people who knew Jesus as their Lord and Savior and knew biblical truth well that wasn’t as easy to answer.  I thought and thought about it, took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.  Without all the confidence as before but as a submitted daughter of my Lord I gently whispered, "Lord, I will be a fool for you in front of Your people if that is what You want me to do."   There I said it.  I agreed to this tough, odd question and then added, "Lord, but please don't let my husband think I am a fool for You."
 
There was a woman in the bible who looked like a fool in front of God's people. Jesus was at the table of Lazarus' home.  Lazarus had two sisters, Mary and Martha.  Lazarus was reclined with Jesus at the table while Martha served the men but Mary, Mary went against several customs the day Jesus dined at their home.  Oh what a precious brave soul Mary was.  In that day, there were certain rules for women.  Women dined at different tables than men.  If a woman was at the table, she was serving them not eating with them.  Also, women did not let their hair down in public or in front of men.   But the day Jesus came to their home and sat at the table with Lazarus, Mary's behavior changed.  But I can't blame her!  After all, Lazarus was sitting and talking with Jesus where just days earlier Lazarus was dead. He was dead and wrapped in grave clothes in a tomb!  Mary's brother whom she deeply loved and deeply grieved when he died was now alive and well!  Mary had witnessed Jesus raise her brother from the dead.  So the day Jesus dined in their home, she grabbed an expensive bottle of perfume and went straight to the feet of Jesus.  She didn't hesitate to pour the whole bottle of perfume on His feet.  She adored Jesus.  Then one of Jesus' disciples, who was also in the home, saw Mary pour all the perfume on Jesus' feet.  This disciple thought it wasteful and absurd of Mary to pour all of such an expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus' feet. What a fool!  What a waste!  It could have been sold to help care for the poor in town.  But Mary didn't stop there.  She let down her hair and with great love for Jesus she wiped his feet with her hair. Such intimacy! But I can see it now, Martha in one corner of the room stopping in disbelief, her eyebrows raised high and eyes wide open as she looked at her sister on the floor at Jesus' feet.  Such folly!  Such foolishness!  Jesus' disciple in another corner of the room looking at Mary with such disdain. What a fool Mary looked like in front of His people.  She wasted it all, careless and imprudent; but to Jesus it was a beautiful intimate act of worship. 
 
Kim Walker-Smith has a song called Waste it All.  I love the following words of this song: 
I want to waste it all on You
I want to pour my heart's perfume
I don't care if I'm called a fool
I'm wasting it all on You
 
Mary's need to show affection to her Lord far outweighed the fear of what others were thinking and saying in that room. Although Mary met disapproval from others close by, she received Jesus' approval for wasting the whole bottle of expensive perfume on His feet.  Mary touched the heart of Jesus with her affection towards Him.  If we want to receive the unveiled treasures of God, we must have an intimate relationship with Him. We must be relentless to pursue closeness with our Lord. We must be ok with wasting it all on Him no matter whose disapproval we may have, no matter how foolish we think it looks to other people. 
 
God wants to unveil His treasures to you but it is not without us taking those treasures and sharing them with others.  Just know you will possibly look like a fool to some but to God it is a beautiful act of worship.
 


PRAYER
In prayer time today, give God your all.  Pour all your heart’s perfume to Him.  Give Him your fears, give Him your desires, give Him your thankfulness, and give Him your praises. Waste it all on Him.