Living Life to the Fullest

What is the most precious thing that you treasure the most? 

Are you willing to sacrifice it for the love of Jesus?

          If there is one woman I look up the most on the Bible, it would be Mary of Bethany. Her devotion to Jesus was so extravagant (but reasonable); the way that melts Jesus' heart. The story of this certain woman, who anointed Jesus with a costly perfume, appeared a couple of times in the New Testament but with discrepancies in the certainty of it's singularity. Nevertheless, all these verses apparently showed the way God wants worship to look like and the kind of surrender He's pleases at.

"As Jesus and His disciples continued their way to Jerusalem they came to a village where a woman named  Martha welcomed them into her home. Her sister Mary sat on the floor, listening to Jesus as He talked. But Martha was the jittery type and was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, 'Sir, doesn't it seem unfair to You that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.' But the Lord said to her, 'Martha, dear friend, you are so upset over all these details! There is only ONE THING worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it---and I won't take it away from her!" ~Luke 11:38-42

           Here, I can see two discrete profiles of a Believer. MARTHA was the type of which service is so important to her that it consumed her. She was caught up with the details, meticulous in perfection, accompanied by overly critical self-evaluations and other's impression. There's no wrong with her intention to give Jesus the best service she could ever give but we can tell when it became too much; it burnt her up and stressed her out. It's like she no longer wants to please Jesus alone, she became too concerned about her preparations so that people will see her work thus it pleases herself. Unconsciously, we can be like her sometimes. We're too concerned about the outside, but leave the inside neglected and jumbled. We're too focused on our service that we operate outside the realm of worship; forgetting why we do it in the first place. To a much degree that sometimes we let our service become our identity, it defines how good of a Christian we are; the more we do for God, the more He will be delighted in us. And if we fail to attain things for Him, we fall in depression that we're never good enough. We carry out our love in a position of doing instead of being.

           But MARY knew the Secret: She never tried to earn His approval. She learned to sit at Jesus' feet, knowing that her purpose in life is to be lavished by God's love, to be an open basket where God can pour out His tremendous love and mercy. She haven't tried to muster up love for Jesus, instead she rested on His love. She listened to His voice and valued His Words. She learned this ONE THING that Jesus was most pleased about; her sweet complete surrender with  undivided devotion. God is more interested on how well we love Him than how much. It's the position of our hearts that He delights in, not as much on the amount of our love to Him. Because if so, He will always be disappointed by the lack or scarcity of it.

"Six days before the Passover ceremonies began, Jesus arrived in Bethany where Lazarus was ---the man He had brought back to life. A banquet was prepared in Jesus' honor. Martha served, and Lazarus sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a jar of costly perfume made from essence of nard, and anointed Jesus' feet with it and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance." ~John 12:1-3

            Mary's act on John 12 was likely one of the best things that will surely NOT make any sense today. Many people are too attached to the world and are down to living life to the fullest; that's why almost everyone knows the word "YOLO" meaning "You only live once" so better get and make the best out of life. Hence people have become lovers of security, assurance/guarantee, safety, protection and wealth that will hold them all together to surpass this lifetime. They love the world so much that they are willing to break and kill anyone to attain all it offers: wealth, fame, possession, power. 

            I know some people will barely understand this and I may sound super religious, they might say that Mary's act of love is a big absurdity and an excessive nonsense! Expressing this great love by unconditionally sacrificing what the world knows is an essential necessity such as wealth, is such an overstatement, something so abstruse, completely pointless and meaningless. "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18). And Mary found and understood the only one thing that's most important in life: JESUS CHRIST. Life is all about it's Maker and the Bible itself screams out the Name of Jesus all the way from the beginning! 

         If you don't know the full revelation of who Jesus is and what He's done, you can never comprehend the context of lavishing anyone's love for Him and considering everything else as meaningless. But positively, the more we know Jesus, the more we'll love Him! We love Him because He loved us first (1 John 4:19), we give our lives to Him because He gave His life for us first (John 3:16), we bless His Name with the joy of His forgiveness to us (1 John 1:19), His faithfulness surrounds us everyday (Lamentations 3:22-23), we're saved by His tender mercy and kindness (Ephesians 2:4), He's got good plans for our future (Jeremiah 29:11), His goodness promises us eternity (Psalms 23:6) and He is our Lord, the One True God (Philippians 2:11/Romans 10:9).

           And Jesus bluntly said the things that we must let go in order to be His disciple and to enter the Kingdom of God! Here are some:

•  “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”~Mark 10:21

                  Jesus was talking to a rich man who genuinely want to go to heaven and asked Him the requirements to qualify him. The man was telling about how he'd never once broken any of the laws, he must be a really good person but salvation can not be earned with good deeds alone. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus wants to see how much this man is willing to give up for Him. Do you still want to follow Jesus even if it means forgetting your riches and start living a humble life with only God at hand?

•  “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." ~Matthew 10:37

            Jesus went even more personal. He is basically saying that He must be our First Love! He wasn't saying that we need to forget about our families, but instead we should love the "Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27). With our all that our loved ones can not hinder us to surrender fully to God's hands, Jesus as our ultimate authority! Do you have any other authorities that direct your life aside from God? Are these influences draw you closer or farther to Him? Do you love God, the Father, more than you love your physical family and yourself?

• "You can be sure of this: The Kingdom of Christ and of God will never belong to anyone who is impure and greedy, for a greedy person is an idol worshiper---he loves and worships the good things of this life more than God." ~Ephesians 5:5

            Jesus is worth more compared to the piles of great things that the world has to offer. "Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One)" (Philippians 3:7) The world is fleeting but Jesus is eternal! Nothing is more glorious than the Kingdom of God in Heaven that stays forever, life on earth is just a dot compared to eternity long. So we  must not love this life on earth more than we love God for He alone reigns and who was and is and yet to come! "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life           for me will save it. (Luke 9:24) Are you satisfied enough with the Lord that you can consider everything else as worthless aside from Him and that there's no greater good in this world than the knowledge of him?

           And Mary illustrated the reality of God's worthiness of honorable sacrifice of life, complete surrender, total dependence, intimate worship, utmost adoration and highest exaltation. She conceived the gloriousness of Jesus Christ that's more valuable than a jar of an expensive perfume. That might be the only treasure that she have, but she willingly and extravangantly gave it back to God understanding that Jesus is deserving of everything that she's got. She had poured her heart and life in humble reverence and adulation to Jesus for forgiving and loving her despite her, the same acquittal that Jesus made available to us on the Cross!

Jesus looked at the woman, then back at Simon. "Do you see this woman?" He asked. "I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." 

          Mary deluged her tears whilst washing Jesus' feet because of so much awe in His enormous mercy and kindness on a sinner like her. She didn't mind stooping her face on the ground to permeate every drop of oil to His feet, using her crown of glory, her hair. To her humility, she kissed His feet as an acknowledgement of God's sovereignty in her life. And she anointed Jesus, consecrating that He is Holy, Righteous King of the redeemed and the God of her salvation.

            I can't use all the languages to communicate the greatness of Jesus Christ, in the glory of God. He is the God of which the entire Bible is talking about. And He is the only One worthy of all our praises! He deserves our devotion, adoration, worship and life. We should give our all to Him, no holding back and no turning back, lavishing our love to Him alone, pouring out our submission and pledging our allegiance to Him, giving Him undivided devotion and no left overs, blessing his Name all the days of our lives and living the life that gives Him pleasure. We live to worship, praise and bless His Holy Name, our lives are not our own! We breathe to bring Him pleasure and we exist to bring Him glory!

            We know that we can never surmount God when it comes to loving, so we're left to offer the most precious of His gifts; our Lives! Because to live life to the fullest is to completely surrender it to its Giver.