The Beautiful Waste
This morning, while completing my devotional, I ended my prayer with a common phrase that I use, “Though I falter, I won’t turn back.” My devotional this morning came from Galatians 2:16,19-21. It shares the apostle Paul’s views on legalism – about how he, as a former Pharisee (or religious leader in Jesus’ time), lived a life centered on maintaining the laws of the Old Testament to a ‘T’ but ignoring the heart of the law. He shows the fruitlessness in living such a life:
“We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ… What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man… My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine”, but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me… If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.”
– Galatians 2:16,19-21, excerpts, The Message
Fighting legalism in my own spiritual walk has been, and continues to be, one of my greatest challenges. For this reason, I end my prayer with, “though I falter, I won’t turn back.” I’m in for the long haul and trust that God is working in me, driving me further from legalism and deeper into His grace.
As I wrote the words, “I won’t turn back,” some lyrics from a song came to mind. Recently in CECE (the IFES movement I’m serving with in Ecuador), we have been singing the song, “Debemos decir y hacer la verdad” or “We should say and practice the truth”. One of the lines that always hits me hard in this song is, “¡Conmigo cuentas de corazón!” or “You can count on me wholeheartedly!” With the lyrics in mind, I decided to listen to the song, which I’m sharing below. The version I’m listening to comes from the Urbana ’15 Worship CD (from InterVarsity/USA), but the original song comes from COMPA (the IFES student movement in Mexico).
Listening to the words of the song, I felt Jesus calling me deeper. Once the song finished I switched to the other Spanish song from Urbana ’15, “Perfume a tus pies” or “Perfume at your feet.” This song is such a beautiful song that, as the Urbana ’15 worship leader shares, “…shows the reflective, introspective side of Latino worship. That concept of bringing your whole self into worship, before God, holding nothing back…” It shares the story of a woman coming to Jesus with a jar of pure and expensive perfume, breaking it and pouring it on Jesus’ head (Mark 14:3-11). Many in this passage see her act and think it foolish to have “wasted” the perfume in such a way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP-Ghr7cUW8
While the lyrics of the song continued to speak to my heart, I was reminded of Mark 2, the second-year track at InterVarsity’s Spring Break conference where we study the entirety of the Gospel of Mark over two years, a total of 80 hours. In our study of this section of Mark, we see a woman with no name mentioned, come to Jesus. She is reproached and criticized by others for her actions, but Jesus sees her actions as a beautiful thing, as something that comforts and honors Him. From such an outpouring from her sacrificial heart, Jesus says, “I assure you: Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her” (Mark 14:9, HCSB).
We see this woman bringing her most prized possession and giving all of it to Jesus. She is ridiculed and judged for the “waste” and how she could have better used the expensive perfume. Yet, in all this, Jesus praises her actions and her heart.
In all of this, I can clearly hear the invitation of Jesus to me, “What can you bring and ‘waste’ on me?” Economically, the woman’s use of the perfume can be considered a “waste,” but from Jesus’ point of view it was a “beautiful waste” that really wasn’t a waste at all. I have to wonder, how can I pour myself out in such a way as the woman poured the perfume out for Jesus. Many may see my actions and say, “What a waste!” but so long as Jesus says, “You did a beautiful thing” that’s all that matters to me.
With this, I want to invite you as well. How can you “beautifully waste” your life on Jesus?
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