There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that?” Mark 14:4 – From the other Gospels we get a few more details surrounding this account. We know the lady anointing Jesus was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. We also know that the key person to complain about what she did was Judas, but from our verse we know he wasn’t the only one there having an issue with what she did. As we see from our verse, Judas and the others said this was a waste. The word in Greek used for waste here is “apóleia.” What’s interesting is other words it can be translated to: destruction, ruin, and even perdition. In fact, in John 17:12, when speaking of the son of perdition, meaning Judas who would betray Jesus, this same word “apóleia” is used. Wiersbe said this of this passage, “Judas criticized Mary for ‘wasting money,’ but he wasted his entire life!” Sometimes we too can be judgmental and critical of the ways people are handling their life for the Lord. Maybe it’s in the ways they are serving or using the blessings God has given them. We can say they are wasting their time there or wasting their talents by not using them how we think they should. Yet instead of judging other’s ways of serving the Lord, can we say we aren’t wasting anything in our serving of Him? Do we waste opportunities to share the Gospel or waste time that could be used for God by giving it to something pointless? Likely we have enough to focus on with making sure we aren’t wasting our life with the Lord that we won’t have time to worry about how other people are “wasting” their life. Yes, be a solid brother or sister in Christ encouraging each other to continue in their devotion to the Lord, but leave out the judgmental attitudes about how you think they should serve the Lord. The best place for you to make sure things aren’t getting wasted for the Lord is focusing on your own walk with Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3105
Question To Ponder: How might you better use what God has given you for Him?
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