What’s the difference between serving others and doing something extravagant only for Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the woman at Bethany poured expensive oil on Jesus, she wasn’t hindered by those indignant disciples at the table, the poor, or whether she was making a logical decision \u2014 all she knew was she had to worship the Savior she loved. <\/em> And the world will never forget her for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not one drop of your life is wasted when it’s spent honoring and praising Jesus<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes we get so caught up with the needs of the world, we forget the Savior of the world.<\/em> We can dismiss our soul’s wanting \u2014 our inner longing to praise the Lord<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Honoring Jesus with what we’ve been given, the way the woman at Bethany did with fragrant oil, multiplies the fruit of the Holy Spirit within us. Proverbs 3:10 says, “Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine<\/em>.” If we’re short on patience, lacking love, missing kindness \u2014 if we sense our heart growing ever colder \u2014 it’s likely we’ve ignored our inherent desire to worship and praise God. Thanksgiving is a spiritual muscle that aches and shrivels when we take it for granted. But the moment we flex it, every muscle in the body benefits<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though we formerly protected by suppressing our heart from any real vulnerable, emotional connection; we are being renewed in the spirit of our mind. Nothing need hinder us from offering all we are to a Holy, loving God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can take a few lessons from our sister at Bethany: real worship needn’t be corporate. No band or voice is necessary. Jesus delights in every<\/em> personal expression of love offered to Him. Spare no expense drawing near to God.<\/em><\/strong>Whatever the cost, Jesus is worth it<\/em><\/strong>. <\/em><\/strong>And never, ever assume disciples of Jesus are the best examples of those who love Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The boys at the table show us how easily we can miss this. How we sidestep the glory of His Highness to keep pace with another Christian project. Preoccupied with counting what needs doing \u2014 we stifle our passion for what Jesus has done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m challenging myself with this: When was the last time you did something extravagant out of pure love for Jesus?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “A good work upon the poor is commendable, a good work upon the church is excellent; but a good work upon Christ, surely this is one of the very highest and noblest kinds of good works.” ~Charles Spurgeon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What’s the difference between serving others and doing something extravagant only for Jesus? When the woman at Bethany poured expensive oil on Jesus, she wasn’t hindered by those indignant disciples at the table, the poor, or whether she was making a logical decision \u2014 all she knew was she had to worship the Savior she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143625079,"featured_media":11225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[696603,5796,7304],"tags":[773157870,773157852,773157840,773157849,33859,2817,773157851],"class_list":["post-11217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-new-heart","category-praise","category-worship","tag-holy-spirit","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-praise","tag-proverbs","tag-works","tag-worship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pacmrQ-2UV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11576,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=11576","url_meta":{"origin":11217,"position":0},"title":"“The tent that is our earthly home.”","author":"Jo Alo","date":"September 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"When's the last time you put up a tent? Kind of a flimsy thing wasn't it? Kept in the trunk, or a dusty garage. Always takes a bit of labor to attach it to the ground, yet easily pulled down. 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And yet, when I closed the Bible, I did it anyway. Trust in God goes beyond learning what God has said. Anyone can learn and regurgitate Scripture. The devil spouts Scripture. 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It was never going to make the top story at six o\u2019clock: a homeless woman died in her car. \u201cIt was three days before anyone found her.\u201d My husband's head dropped, hand to his mouth.She and I had a brief friendship many years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Bible"","block_context":{"text":"The Bible","link":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?cat=54418"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/good-days-digital-zwqtyqrhz-s-unsplash-2.jpeg?fit=1026%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/good-days-digital-zwqtyqrhz-s-unsplash-2.jpeg?fit=1026%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/good-days-digital-zwqtyqrhz-s-unsplash-2.jpeg?fit=1026%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/good-days-digital-zwqtyqrhz-s-unsplash-2.jpeg?fit=1026%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8177,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=8177","url_meta":{"origin":11217,"position":3},"title":"“My whole heart.” Psalm 9:1","author":"Jo Alo","date":"March 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This is what the Lord Jesus Christ requires. The whole kit & caboodle. He's an all or nothing Savior. And aren't we grateful? Coming because He desired that none should perish. Went to the cross so He could bear every sin. 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At first it sounded as though it was beneath me. A single clink from the heat vent. What could that be, I wondered. Then it grew and I walked around the dark room for a clue. To the window I went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Holy Spirit"","block_context":{"text":"Holy Spirit","link":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?cat=33380"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_2300.jpg?fit=1077%2C810&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_2300.jpg?fit=1077%2C810&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_2300.jpg?fit=1077%2C810&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_2300.jpg?fit=1077%2C810&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_2300.jpg?fit=1077%2C810&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9211,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=9211","url_meta":{"origin":11217,"position":5},"title":"What’s So Good About Good Friday?","author":"Jo Alo","date":"April 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I asked the Lord this morning, \"Why would we call this day of remembrance, good? Wasn't this the worst day of all\u2014Your public, gruesome execution?\" Of all the titles we could come up with: Broken Friday, Awful Friday, Crying Friday\u2014anything feels truer than, Good Friday. 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