Today's Devotional

May 4, 2005

Subject:  Alabaster Box I - The Heart Part

Matthew 26:7 - 10 "There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.  But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?  For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.  When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me."

The woman caused quite an uproar when she came in and poured the precious ointment on the head of Jesus.   As the scripture says, the disciples were indignant with the woman and admonished her for wasting this precious commodity.  However, as you can read above, Christ put it all in perspective for the do-gooder disciples.  

The disciples are like many of us in the church today.  We are "so" concerned with doing good that we forget why we're doing it.  We forget the heart part.  Yes, we are such "good" Christians that we can tell others how to be "good" like us.  Then when we find people "doing good" in other ways unlike ours, we're quick to find fault or admonish what they "could have" or "should have" been doing.  This was the disciples problem concerning the alabaster box.   See the disciples were more concerned about appearances, but the woman was only concerned about Jesus.  What the disciples called waste, Jesus called good.  This is because the woman wasn't just concerned with doing good "for" Jesus, she wanted to do good "by" Jesus and that met His approval.

The alabaster box and the precious ointment represent what we're willing to sacrifice to Jesus and more importantly where our heart is when we sacrifice it.  Today lets not get so caught up in doing good "for" Jesus that we forget that we need to do good "by" Jesus.  

Carlen