What does Jesus really want from us?

Do you like to smell good?  Do you?  Its a simply question really.  We pay a ton of money to make sure the evil stink that comes from our pits does not penetrate the noses of the people around us.  This is true today as it was when Jesus was around.

Perfume during the New Testament times was not something that people had masses of.  You wouldn’t walk into the nearby mall and see tons of bottle labeled “For display purposes”.  This is because Perfume was incredibly valuable and was treasured.  Sorry Ralph Lauren and Polo… your stuff just aint that cool…

One of my favorite stores in the Gospels is when Jesus was Anointed by two women.  You see these women in Matthew 26 and Luke 7.  You can look these up yourselves but the short version is that Jesus is anointed by these women in ways that the disciples and the pharisees that were present at the time were offended and outraged.  One woman used perfume that the disciples said could have been sold and the money given to the poor while the other woman was an outsider and the individuals gathered with Jesus thought she shouldn’t have been allowed to be even at the feet of Jesus.  However, Both these times Jesus responds in an appreciative and loving way.  Why?

The answer?  Well one may be that these women dropped the “We Try Harder” mentality and just came as they were; broken and needy people pouring their hearts out to Jesus.

and pouring perfume…

You see, in churches today we like to play the “We Try Harder” game with God.  saying things like;

“I need to try harder to read my bible”

“I need to try harder to pray everyday”

“I need to try harder to be thankful to God”

“I need to try harder at being a ‘good christian'”

Honestly… you dont need to try harder…

“Awwww!!!!  Im telling on Brad… he told a fib!”

No I didnt.  As Christians we try too hard to play this “look good” and “win the Christian game” game.  We are too focused on making sure we pray at least three times a day and reading the Bible at least 20 minutes a day and we miss the point…

… … … Miss… … …

God doesnt want you to jump through hoops.  He really isnt even worried about what rule we follow (cause if you were just interested in following the rules and adding more rules you may want to look at Jesus’ response to the Pharisees).

these women did not follow any rules.  In fact, they were braking rules even before they came to Jesus’ feet!  Yet… Jesus responds with love and appreciation.  That is because Jesus is not interested in us checking off that we “followed the rules” or “tried really hard” he is only interested in us bringing ourselves to a point of selflessness and pure devotion to Him.  When is the last time you stopped and really fell face down before God?  Were you too busy following the rules and trying harder that you missed viewing God out of complete reverence?

Pretty cool huh?

I hope today you smell good… but you also are bringing God what he really wants.

~ by bradgust on October 13, 2010.