A lasting impact
While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head. The disciples were indignant when they saw this. “What a waste!” they said. “It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, replied, “Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.” Matthew 26:7-13
The question that you have to ask yourself today is, “How do I want people to remember me?” You have heard that statement about “leaving a lasting impression.” You see you don’t have to wait in order for you to have a lasting impression that leaves an imprint on the minds of others. In our text, this is what the Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples when a woman came to anoint Him with an expensive perfume. The beauty of the story was about the extravagance of the love shown to Jesus. This woman gave everything she had by pouring the whole amount of perfume upon him. It was a costly perfume that amounted to three hundred denarii. A denarii is a day’s wage. The disciples thought that what the woman did was wasteful. These are people who have been listening to Jesus and believe what He teaches and yet here they were and they were incensed. Yet, without hesitation Jesus defended the woman’s action. The response Jesus took caught the disciples by surprise and probably wondered what they missed. There was nothing else she could do to show her love and she did what she could. There are certain opportunities that come in your life which you must seize at the moment for they might never happen again. The woman had seized the moment God appointed for her. It was out of the sensitivity of her heart that she realized that the timing was right and Jesus recognized her action. This is the attitude the Lord is looking to those that committed their lives to Him. You are not called to do everything but when called upon to do something, He expects you to act willingly and generously. This is all God asks of His children—that when called upon to respond to an opportunity to serve, you will not hesitate. You will not look at your action as a waste of time or an interruption to your busy schedule but you were called upon to be a blessing to somebody. Bring to Him what is at hand. You have something that you can do today. And in doing it with the expectation that God will take it and enlarge it, you will find that tremendous results can follow. “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back” (Luke 6:38). And as Jesus told His disciples; “this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed” (Matthew 26:13).
Blessings,