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But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself (Philippians 3:20-21).
What is Jesus doing with all that power? That is, the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself?
This is the power that spoke the world into being. That calmed raging storms with a simple command and handled diseases and demons as if they were roaches under his feet.
This is the power that bore all the evil the world can marshal and burst forth from the grave with the keys to death and hell firmly in his grasp. What’s He doing with it now? [click to continue…]
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25-27).
How would it affect the way you react to things if you recognized everything as being under Jesus’ authority? How would it change your attitude? How would it liberate you to be a lifestyle worshipper, even in the most frustrating of circumstances?
This passage came alive to me a couple of days ago. It contains a present-tense reality and a future anticipation. The future anticipation is that one day Jesus Christ is going to present all things – including all enemies – under His authority to the Father. And the last enemy, Paul says, that He will destroy is death.
How greatly I am forgiven because of how greatly I have sinned. My life can show forth your handiwork because you have redeemed me from a pit too deep for me to climb out of it. And you did so by getting into the pit with me.
How relentlessly you pursued me. I ran and ran and ran, and you chased me still. [click to continue…]
Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable (1 Corinthians 9:25).
On the medal stand, three world-class athletes receive a prize that pays homage to their natural abilities and even more so to the years of training they endured. Every meal was eaten for the prize. Every drink was for the prize. Every step in the training regimen and a significant part of their lives off the field or court was also for the prize.
Nobody remembers who placed the wreath or hung the medal. All eyes are on the prize and the prize winners. The one thing that had to be certain was that the “crowner” had the authority to certify the win.
But this isn’t about athletic wreaths and medals, or fatherly nods from commissioners or chairmen. It’s about the Giver of imperishable crowns.
Today I celebrate my Crown-Giver, who, in showing off the splendor of his creation, crowns us with glory and majesty. [click to continue…]
I have a dog that worships me in the simplest of terms.
Make no mistake about it – she’s a dog and does dogly things. She harasses the cat, chews on things, bargains for treats, and does a pretty good job delivering and nursing puppies. But her one priority, above all else, is to follow me.
What’s funny is that she’s anything but sentimental about it. Unlike Gabbi, her older counterpart, Gracie rarely looks devoted. But wherever I go, there she wants to be. In simplest terms, she has made me the center of her world.
This isn’t about dogs. It’s about you. About me. About worship. It’s about following Jesus – without a doubt the most common way He referred to a life discipleship, devotion, and worship.
You see it repeatedly in the gospels. “Follow Me” with a promise attached. “Follow Me” at the tail end of a stinging rebuke. “Follow Me” as the solution to a perplexing question about life or theology. “Follow Me” as an immediate, exclusive point of decision.
I have this crazy thought. Maybe Jesus wants us to follow Him, too. And maybe that’s a more significant expression of worship than a lot of the other forms we love to discuss or debate. What could declare the worth of Jesus Christ more than steadily, simply going where He goes – of pursuing our sense of His presence and leadership? [click to continue…]
The promise is so simple, so straightforward and true, it’s easy to dismiss it. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
What if He meant just what He said? What if the circumstances and signals all around you were echoing the same refrain? Maybe it’s time to take Him up on His promise…
When it seems as though you’re arguing with everybody in sight, it’s time to draw near. [click to continue…]
“In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men” (Acts 24:16).
How is it possible to maintain a spirit of worship throughout your day? Not just in the “religious spaces,” but in every space on your calendar?
As Paul defends himself from the charges against him, he almost in passing makes mention of a guiding principle that speaks to every area of his life. “I do my best,” he says, “to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men.”
Wow. That’s about as clear an ovation as it gets. And the key word is “always.”
Suppertime. And it’s quite a little dinner party there in Bethany. All twelve disciples of Jesus are there, as is Jesus Himself, for whom the dinner was made.
Curiously enough, Lazarus – the friend of Jesus who never uttered a recorded word – is there, too. And this is after his four-day journey to the pit.
Martha is there, of course, being Martha, and making things happen.
And in comes Mary. She’s carrying an alabaster box. With all the movement and conversation as people recline at a Middle Eastern dinner table, I doubt very many people notice her at first. But that’s OK. Mary wasn’t interested in being noticed. She was interested in something – and Someone – much greater.
That said, no one could escape the fragrance that filled the room. It penetrated everything, everyone, everywhere.
Is that nard?
Nard it is.
That’s expensive stuff. To say nothing of the now-broken box that carried it.
Where is that coming from?
The feet of Jesus, and the one who is so lavishly anointing them with what is doubtless her most valuable possession.
Broken. Spilled out. All for the love of Jesus.
Cue the Critic
Human nature requires, it seems, for something so pure, so lavish, so passionate to invite a second opinion.
“What a waste,” Judas mutters. “This could have been sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor.”
Oh, the poor. Always the poor. The political cue ball for anybody to make a self-righteous or self-serving point. John makes sure everybody knows Judas didn’t give a hoot about the poor; he just wanted Mary’s money.
(Just for perspective, a denarius was the Roman version of a dime. Doesn’t seem like much, until you consider that a denarius was a day’s wages for a Roman soldier. Want to compare? Take your annual income and figure what 82% of it would be.)
Stop the Crossfire
“Leave her alone.”
Whoa. This is Jesus doing the talking, and He’s in no mood. The same Jesus who wept at Mary’s grief. The same Jesus who promised resurrection to Martha. The same Jesus who called Lazarus from the grave with success. The same Jesus who would soon accept the praises and rejection of throngs of people, die like a criminal, then rise from the dead.
This same Jesus – the friend of the poor, the sinners, the common man – is in no mood for muttering or murmuring. “Back off!” He says.
Then he adds: “For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me” (John 12:8).
Translation: You can do charity anytime. But you don’t always have Me.
Jesus is saying at this point that there is a place for extravagance. For ridiculously pouring out that which we treasure most – even if by human calculations it could do more good somewhere else.
The Heart of the Lavisher
Back to Mary for a minute. What could prompt such a passionate expression?
Start with incredible gratitude. Mary recognizes the surpassing value of what the Lord has done for her. Do you? Or has it been too long, you eyes dimmed by time and repetition of the story, or distracted by life? Abundantly grateful people seem to look for abundantly extravagant ways to express the depths of their gratitude.
Mary also has some insight into the purpose of Jesus’ coming in the first place. I think that’s why Jesus wept at the tomb of her brother. He was brokenhearted that Mary was the only person on the planet that seemed to get it. With Martha banging the pots and the disciples quibbling over who was the greatest, Mary sees the stunning depths to which Jesus descended to die for the bangers and the quibblers. Such grace. Such love. And in Mary, such worship. How long has it been since you fully grasped the cross and victorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus?
Mary has a love for Jesus that excels all material possessions or aspirations. Crazy love. After all, He was ridiculously precious to her. To pour out such value to any other love would cheapen it. But in offering it to Jesus, she only increased its value and influence. Just as the fragrance filled the room, so Mary’s influence continues to this day to point people to a love worth giving our all to.
Add to that a sense of urgency. Jesus wouldn’t be around forever; I think Mary knew that. If ever there was a time to express, to take action, to declare in an act of worship who her faith was in, this was the night. Something about the shortness of time called her out. And it will do so for you as well.
Beyond Your Abundance
It’s one thing to worship Jesus in the poverty of your spirit or possessions. It’s another to worship Him beyond the abundance of your possessions.
In a sense, the perfume “died” – its usefulness gone once the fragrance filled the room and the oil covered Jesus’ feet.. What can you do with my possessions – tangible and intangible – to offer them up in such a way that they “die” – even as their fragrance fills the room and they testify to the supreme worth and witness of the Lord Jesus?
What little we know of Mary, a scene like this is never repeated. Your opportunities may not be, either. But sometimes life presents us with those opportunities to offer Jesus the ovation of extravagant worship.
Great is Your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23).
A day in the life of someone who applauds the Lord as a lifestyle begins and ends, not with my faithfulness, but with confidence in the faithfulness of God.
It means knowing that every day is a new expression of His covenant love, regardless of my performance.
It means knowing He feels what I am feeling, and has new expressions of covenant love and compassion every morning waiting for me to experience.
He is faithful, and His faithfulness is great.
So on this day, to offer Him my Ovation, I begin it with the search for this day’s expression of covenant love, compassion, and faithfulness from the Lord. The beauty of it all (and the sadness of it all) is that He is expressing it, whether I look for it or not. [click to continue…]
