- 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
- Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Mark 14:38 – Two things I see Jesus sharing with us here. One, easily we can fall into temptation when our eyes are not on Jesus and when we aren’t consistent with our prayer life. Two, in Jesus we can find all the strength we need to overcome our weakness when it comes to temptations. The last thing Jesus is saying here is that temptations are something we shouldn’t be concerned with. He’s reminding us the power our enemy has and the weakness we on our own have. Thankfully Jesus spotlights though His strength and our ability to tap into it. My encouragement to you today is be aware temptations can be strong but know the strength that Jesus wants to give you is stronger than any temptation the enemy has. Keep your focus on Jesus and keep steady in your prayer life. This is how Jesus directs us on our path to overcoming temptation. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 469
- It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him. Mark 14:1 – During the times these leaders should have been leaning deeply into God to prepare for Passover instead their hearts where leaning deeply toward their anger, envy, and hatred of Jesus. Their hearts weren’t where they should have been. How about us today? As I write this I’m sitting in my office at church listing the the choir practice their piece for our church gathering soon. I have to ask myself is my heart here, leaning deeply after God, or is it elsewhere? Leaning toward my plans for the day or my sins or something else? As I today am going to seek to lean away from other things so I can lean deeper after Christ, I invite you to do the same. Know He is with you today, see what could happen if today you lean into Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1623
Daily DEVO 