“You’re wasting your time,” the enemy chides me.
(Not as if what I’m gaining out of the quiet place won’t grow me, because he knows that I know better than to believe that.
But more like an accusation that I’m not stewarding my time well when I have days or seasons where I extra-need God’s guidance and encouragement or where I just c•r•a•v•e that time with Him.)
“What a waste! Your time could have been spent handing food out to the poor. Or working, so that you have more money to give to charities or to the church.” – he (the enemy) adds.
And God knows that my heart is for helping in any way He asks me to,
but something still compels me to not only give Him my ALL (as in, “Lord, you are the boss of every part of my life – I’ll go where you tell me to go, stay where you tell me to stay, serve where you tell me to serve, and walk away when you say it’s time to walk away…”)
but to also give HIM my BEST.
The first chunk of my day as often as I’m able.
Before the housework gets me.
Before the kids require help with school.
Before the list of work tasks comes out.
Before I begin responding to others’ messages.
Not because I have to but because I want to.
Because it doesn’t even feel like giving him anything, it feels like receiving the gift of a moment with Him.
And yet, since the enemy wasn’t coming at me with a worldly point of view, but rather a religious one, I was confused and I had to take this to Jesus also.
“You’re like the woman with the perfume,” is what I heard Him whisper to my soul. 💕
“Don’t feel guilty.
It’s precious!
I have all I could ever need,
and yet the one thing I desire
has to be given as a gift.
And that is hearts!
Hearts that love me more than ANYTHING else.
Hearts that long to spend time with me
first and as often as they can.
Not because they feel some religious duty to,
but because they LONG to.
They LOVE me.
They SAVOR our together time.
I love all my children, but the ones who experience my favor are the ones who savor time with me.
(He knows I love a good rhyme!) 😉 “
〰️〰️〰️
So I looked up the story of the woman with the perfume:
“Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper. While he was eating dinner, a woman came up carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. Opening the bottle, she poured it on his head.
Some of the guests became furious among themselves. “That’s criminal! A sheer waste! This perfume could have been sold for well over a year’s wages and handed out to the poor.” They swelled up in anger, nearly bursting with indignation over her.
But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why are you giving her a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me.
You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me. She did what she could when she could—she pre-anointed my body for burial. And you can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about admiringly.”
(Then)Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the cabal of high priests, determined to betray him. They couldn’t believe their ears, and promised to pay him well. He started looking for just the right moment to hand him over.”
Mark 14:3-11 MSG
〰️〰️〰️〰️
There are so many pieces of wisdom hidden in this story. They point to what Jesus treasures. Each time I read stories in my Bible I see something new. And I’m sure I won’t even begin to touch on all of the gems hidden in this one. One blog post is not enough for that!
In a world that works very opposite of the way His Kingdom does, we NEED His Word to help recalibrate us to His heart. His Truth.
I can be really confident when I set out in the direction He calls me, because when I am flowing in His spirit, He is moving me I am not the one doing the moving. I am not trying to desire more time with Him, I simply do.
But when I go into the rest of my day, “into the (“real”) world”, His isn’t the only voice I’m hearing.
The voice of hustle tries to chime in as well.
And the voice of guilt.
And then I intentionally have to go back to Him so He can show me how to proceed. Assure me that I’m on the right track, or correct me if I’m off. And here is what he showed me this time:
What is the most valuable thing we can give anyone?
The thing that we cannot buy more of, control our supply of, or get back once it is given?
TIME.
There are always going to be people who look at others living a God-led instead of goal-led life, and think “How wasteful! How wasteful that you’re spending so much time just enjoying His presence.
Your time could have been put to work instead, for a year’s wages and handed out to the poor.”
In other words, these voices say “You could be more valuable to Him, make more of an impact for His Kingdom, if you would just spend your time the world’s way, and if you spend your money the religious way…”
But God goes to great lengths to show us that His ways are higher than ours.
Sometimes His ways are beyond what our fleshy, (worldly or religious, either way) minds can wrap themselves around.
We can learn the most from the red letters in His Book. (The ones Jesus said.) ❤️
And what did Jesus say to these accusers?
***”But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why are you giving her a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me.“ ***
And what did Jesus say when I came to him about the voices of guilt accusing me (having come from being a workaholic) of being lazy?
He made those thoughts leave by speaking Truth over me. “By giving me your time, your most limited commodity, lavishly- lovingly- you have done something wonderfully significant for me…”
And then he reminds the grind-stirrer in me,
“You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your life. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them.” (And He helps us to desire and do that too!)
There will be plenty of other moments in the day where I can serve, and plenty of opportunities to do so. But just like He shows us in the story of Mary and Martha, when HE is our joy, our delight, and we spend our time delighting in Him lavishly, it’s not a waste. It’s the BEST. Even though it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice because we are so in love with Him that it feels like all joy…And even though everything we have came from Him to begin with…He perceives it as a gift!
Jesus didn’t say don’t help the poor.
Jesus didn’t say don’t work.
Jesus didn’t say don’t spend time serving.
What He said was- lavishly loving moments with Him come FIRST!
& What He said to anyone trying to guilt us over taking that time (even just the other voices that try to whisper lies to our minds), as if we are taking away from His Kingdom, or even our own kids, by taking that time- is… you’re wrong.
He didn’t come JUST for service to the poor.
He didn’t come JUST to feed the hungry food.
He came to teach us how to live by more than bread alone! (Matthew 4:4)
And until we allow Him to teach us how to live that way in the quiet place (which takes time that seems so foolish to the world to set aside)… how could we ever hope to share this “better bread?” with the world, which deep down is what they REALLY need anyway. It’s the BEST stuff!
You know, the thing is,
I call this my encouragement blog,
but really?
It’s more like an encouragement LOG,
where I simply share all the wonderful ways
that He encourages me. 💕
From Full 