John 12:3 NIV
[3] Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Mary uncovered her hair. She used her most valued asset to her beauty in those days and used to wash the feet of Jesus. A woman’s hair was of such value to her back in the time of Christ. Even up to withing this century a woman’s long hair, kept clean and well maintained was considered part of her dignity. Then came the 80’s and supercharged, big and loud styles, and the surf cuts and the wave cut and then, hold onto something, the beehive, then we wore hair in the lovely pixi cuts and now long is coming back. You’re welcome for the run down on woman’s hair styles over the years. I know we all needed to know that. My point is that we as women have always valued our hair and used it to show off our personality. But back in Jesus’s day a woman’s hair was actually part of her dignity. That’s why it was kept covered. Also, the cover helped keep out sand, they were in the desert. So to uncovered her hair and to use it as a cloth was the same as Mary saying, “all I am Lord, my honor, my dignity, my value, my beauty, all of it is found only in you.”
Mary was preparing Jesus for His death. She was anointing His body for burial. But she also washed all she was away in kneeling at His feet and cleansing them. She showed what it means to be a true deciple. To pour out everything you value on Jesus and to claim Him as all you are worth. The funny thing is, having Jesus as all we are worth is far more important than us being anything on our own, and yet we see it as a sacrifice. The only true sacrifice was Jesus on the cross for people so unworthy that all we can give Him in return is a jar full of perfume and our broken hearts.
Category: encouragement
Feet part 3
[9] “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
That desire. That longing to be known and owned fully by God. Peter knew it. He understood somewhere deep in His spirit that He needed to be covered by Jesus’s cleansing. I wonder if that desire to be baptized in the water, to be supersaturated by God, made Jesus happy. How many of us live God enough to say, “all of my Lord, cleanse it all.”
Stormie O’martan spoke of her heart as house. She said that in the beginning she let God into the main room and thought that was enough. But soon He was knocking on the door to another room, another part of her life, so eventually she let him in. Then He began knocking at another door and another and another, until finally He was in every room. It’s not enough to simply accept that Jesus is Lord, you must also let Him into your life, all of your life, let Him control everything. That can be hard. There may be things you are told to give up. Or things, (or harder still, people) you are told to add to your life. It’s a hard path. But no worth while path was ever ea
Feet part 2
John 13:8 NIV
[8] “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” John 13:9 NIV
Peter thought it beneath Jesus to wash his feet. He did not want the one he knew to be the son of God, their long awaited king, the Messiah, kneeling at his feet and washing them. Jesus knew that Peter meant no offense in his statement but He needed all his deciples to understand that if he did not wash them clean they would have no part in Him. To this day we all must be washed by Jesus to share in His presence and glory. Of course, we mean washed spiritually by His blood. If we are not cleaned by the blood of Christ, if we have not made a statement of Faith and asked Him into our lives, then we are not shareholders in His reward. He must be part of us for us to be part of Him. Like Rev. Dr. L.H.VanBeek once said. His Spirit draws us to Him so He can give His Spirit to us. It’s such a profound thing. And something to be longed for and valued.
Feet part 1
John 13:14 NIV
[14] Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
I love this verse even more since I read a Devotional by the head of the Pocket Testament League. Yes their name does make PTL and we all enjoy the pun of them saying Praise the Lord in their name.
The Devotional said that Jesus washed Judas’s feet too.
I had never thought of that. Jesus washed the feet of the man he knew was going to betray him. The washing of the feet was not symbolic of the washing of the sins. It was symbolic of the serving of one another. This showed that Jesus was willing to bend down and serve his greatest Earthly enemy and that moment. I don’t enjoy the love your enemy reverse. We live in a culture that promotes Revenge and treating your enemies the way they deserve. But the Bible is always been counterculture and that is a good thing. If Jesus could wash the feet of the man who is about to sell him to be beaten and nailed to a cross, I can do my best to open doors for people I don’t like and to offer to help people who annoy me. Does that mean that I will never complain about them? Nope. I probably still will, but I need to do better. If Jesus could wash the feet of his betrayer then I can be kinder to those who wear the badge of enemy when they stand before me. Not because I am bowing to them or what they’re standing for, not because I suddenly agree with their opinions or think that their behavior or attitude or cruelty was deserved or right. I can treat them better because I know that Jesus would have washed their feet too. Jesus wasn’t condoning What Judas was about to do. He wasn’t saying yep you’re going to sin against me and betray me and that’s totally fine. He was saying this is what you should do, wash the feet of your beloved friends and your worst enemies. Not because they deserve it, but because through this act, they might find Jesus.
Heaven
Revelation 21:3 NIV says:
[3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
God is available. You can speak with Him and laugh with Him and listen to music with Him and go on hikes with Him, IF, He lives in your heart, if you have accepted Him as your Lord and Savior.
We all like the ‘God knows my heart’ statement. But do you actually like that? He knows your heart. Your every motive, your every deceit, your every wrong desire. It’s not a ‘God knows my heart so even if I am doing something wrong He knows that in my heart I’m a good person.’ But what your heart shows is not you as a good person, your heart shows the very worst of you. Not because you are a bad person, but because we are all sinful by nature. But God loves us enough to change our hearts.
John 14:3 NIV
[3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
God prepares a place for us. The only true Heaven is the one God has created. The one that is there for those of us who love Him. If you love someone you want that someone with you all the time so make space for him or her in your life. We often feel like our walk with God is a lot of work on our part, or at least I have often heard complaints to that rhythm. Yes, following God’s laws and serving Him may feel like too much work sometimes. That’s why so many want to change Jesus’s words to make it sound like the laws that God gave us are not still relevant. New flash. They are still relevant. And then we who know that Jesus never changed God’s laws only the rules that the leaders had adopted, we often feel like we aren’t living up to God’s standards because His rules are based on His perfect sinless nature. But God does not expect us to become perfect or to reach a state of enlightenment, or to be able to live on nothing but the basics because that’s Christ like. No. None of that is true. He expects us to do our absolute best. To flee from sin. To help our brothers and sisters in Christ. To love those who it would be easier to hate. But He knows we will fall and fail everyday, and even knowing that He will keep on helping us try again. He knows we will never reach perfection, what He wants to see is a child trying His or Her best to live as Jesus lives. Blameless. Will we succeed? Sometimes. Will we fail? Sometimes. But are we trying? Yes.
God is preparing a home for us. A place to reside with Him. Because He wants us with Him. He wants us to do our best and to finish the race. He wants us to keep the Faith. He wants us to get to live in His house with Him.
Philippians 3:20 NIV
[20] But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
We are strangers, we are aliens, we are not of this world. Petra . We often forget that we are not of this world. But it’s true. Our citizenship is in heaven with Jesus. When a loved one dies we get so broken down because we look at this world, we look at the things they used to touch, the rooms they used to occupy smell like they did, they’re laughter and smile is now gone from our sight and hearing. But they were never meant to stay in this world, they have gone to heaven where they are happy and blessed and encouraged and better than anything else they get to be with Jesus physically every single day. And when we look around in our sad we have to remember that we are not meant for this world either, we are here for a little while to encourage others to come and to benefit the kingdom of God, but someday we too will be in heaven with Jesus always. There was a song once by an old band that said If by some mistake Jesus was not in heaven it too would be hell. The world makes heaven look like some big party Zone meant for nothing but good times. But what makes heaven heaven is the fact that Jesus is physically there and we get to be with him. In the end he is all we need, and it’s hard because we get it into our heads that that’s not true but it is. Jesus is all we will ever need. And he is gone to prepare a home for us in his kingdom so we can walk out our front door and say ‘hey Jesus want to go for a walk and get a coffee.’ All our pets that we have lost before will run around our feet our loved ones will come up and want to chat and people we never even knew will be like family to us. Best of all we will get to worship our savior physically face to face everyday. That’s what heaven it all about.
Hands part 6
Luke 18:15- they came for Jesus to lay hands on them and heal them.
I love this. For Luke who was a doctor, to see healing that could not be explained with science or medication must have been mind blowing. To touch the sick, the injured, the maimed the blind, the deaf, the leper, and to see healing, that would have brought him to his knees. I have seen God do some pretty crazy stuff, not yet have I seen a limb grow back but that would be awesome. The fact is that God can do these things. He does them through us, if only we have Faith and pray for the impossible. Sometimes He does not answer our big crazy request, but we have to always make space for his will, the times he does answer or times we need to remember and thank him for so that when he doesn’t answer we don’t lose our faith. Jesus used to do these healings in person, he used to do Insane healings that made no sense to the people watching, he would lay his hands on those people and you would see them be restored. Those hands that we nailed to the cross. Hands that healed were wounded because of us.
Hands part 5
Luke 23:46 says: Into your hands I trust my spirit.
Into your hands I trust. Five of the hardest words we ever say to God. I trust you Jesus. With this and all things. It makes a nice fridge magnet but do we mean it? How often do we say it? Leaving God to take over is so hard because we are doing creatures. It’s sort of like domesticating a wolf and trying to teach him that he is no longer needing to hunt and fight to survive, now you feed and protect him. God takes us out of our struggle and brokenness and cares for us, but we want to take care of ourselves because we think we know better, this reminds me of a poem:
Let Go and Let God by Laurette Burns
As children bring their broken toys,
with tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God,
because He is my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him in
peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help,
with ways that were my own.
At last, I snatched it back again and cried,
“How can you be so slow?”
“My child” He said, “What could I do?
You never let it go.”
We must learn to let go, only God can control things in a way that will make them work out perfectly with His plan.
Hands part 4
Psalms 22:16 they pierced my hands and feet. A little further down it mentions lots being cast for David’s belongings. He was using a metaphor and people will try and explain what was on his mind or why this was so close to what Jesus went through.
David wrote often on the hands of God and the peace of being safe in His hands. This
Always reminds me of newborn kittens. When a kitten is first born it is so tiny it truly fits right in the palm of your hand. Too often living on a farm have we seen Barn cats abandon their kittens and will be out there trying to take care of them. They’re so tiny and trusting and they will snuggle down right in the palm of your hand and go to sleep because they know somehow they know they are safe there. So often I would sit for hours in our barn with my dog wandering around sniffing out different cat residences, he’s very friendly with cats, and I would sit there and I’d be holding a sleeping kitten. That’s us with Jesus we’re tiny and delicate like a newborn kitten lying safe within his hands. It reminds me of the song He’s got the whole world in His hands. Petra did a newer version where they said, He’s STILL got the whole world in His hands. We forget those songs from kid’s camp, those songs that told us so much about God’s character. He’s still got the whole world in His hands. In those hands that we pierced.
Hands part 2
Mark 12:36 referenced King David when David said that Lord spoke to Him, promising to keep Him at His right hand.
God often spoke of being at His right hand.
In this train of thought I looked up the importance of the right hand man. Of course this is not what God was meaning, but it brought a new perspective A website called Monster-work said the best right hand person should be as follows:
When searching for this key figure, consider the following: Trustworthiness: Look for someone with a proven track record of reliability. Complementary Skills: Your ally should possess strengths that enhance your own. Diversity of Thought: He/she should bring new ideas and perspectives.
This is very much what having God at OUR right hand is like, that is very different from being at His right hand but we will cover that in a second. God is always reliable! He is 100% trustworthy. He uses our strengths to bless His kingdom and His uses His power to bless us. He often shows us a perspective different from our own. And best of all, He is always on our side.
Now. Being at GOD’S right hand means that you are in place of honor. If God is defending you with His right hand, then He has placed you in a place of importance to Him. God’s right hand is often a metaphor for God’s power as well, He will say “I will strike them down with my right hand” < Paraphrased >
His right hand is both safe to those who love Him and dangerous to those who don’t.
Thankfully, we as His children are shielded by His powerful right hand.
Are you hurting? Turn to Jesus
Sometimes you are hurting but don’t notice it because you are busy carrying all the burdens. Take a moment and breathe and connect with your feelings. Then take those feelings and turn them over to God. When everyone is relying on you it’s easy to feel like you have to keep a brave face and hold on. But God. God never called you to be strong in yourself, He called you to be strong through Him. Take your pain, anger, fear and sorrow and place it all in His hands, then walk away. I don’t mean stop praying about it, I mean stop holding onto it like it’s your burden to hold. His yoke is easy remember? His burden is light. He is not going to give you a bunch of stuff to deal with and then walk away. God will carry you. Trust Him.
Carried in the cross 