WEDNESDAY: NOT WASTED - GENEROSITY AS WORSHIP
KEY PASSAGE
“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.”
DEVOTIONAL
It took Leonardo Davinci three years to finish his famous painting, The Last Supper. Imagine spending 3 years obsessing over one work of art. Now consider whether that enduring work of beauty was a waste of time and effort. Surely there were better ways the artist could have used his genius to benefit the world in some other way; but we can’t deny that The Last Supper is beautiful. If the end result is something beautiful, how could it be a waste?
When Jesus is anointed with expensive perfume the disciples consider the value of the substance. They call it a waste because they are thinking of what is being given, that the value of the perfume could be leveraged for a more practical or lasting work. They think about the gift that is being spent but not about the person who is spending it, or the person it is being spent on.
Jesus sees it differently. He says, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” Jesus considers the end result: A lavish offering from a woman who could think of no better way of spending the expensive perfume than to anoint the head of the one she worships. A beautiful thing done unto the Lord is not a waste.
Giving is an act of worship in this way. No matter the expense, the effort, the time, or the sacrifice; a gift to the Lord is a beautiful act of worship.
Consider the exuberant colors that God placed in a sunset, or the elaborate, intricate detail He placed in a dragonfly. We would never think of God’s handiwork as a waste. He gave us more beauty than we need, more than we can take in. A gift of love is a beautiful thing. When we worship we give a gift in return. We do a beautiful thing to the Lord.
CHALLENGE
Take a look at your plans for today. Who do you plan to spend time with? What will you spend money on? What tasks are you planning to complete?
Choose one of these things and treat it as your offering, as a beautiful thing done to the Lord.