nothing wasted

After church this afternoon when Matt and Ben were napping and the girls were coloring, I was continuing to read through Matthew. I read again about the woman with the jar of expensive perfume breaking it open for Jesus.

They yelled at her for wasting it, because in the disciples' perspective, there was so much earthly good that could have been done with it instead.  Could've helped the poor, could've fed a few people, maybe a lot of people.

I get that.

Looking at things that way is a huge part of our lives. There are a lot of poor TO help, a lot of people TO feed. We think about it constantly. One drive through town, one walk through the village, one conversation with a way-too-little little one and we're asking ourselves...what can be done? What can we do? What do we have? How can we help with it?

But Jesus gave them an additional layer perspective, one better.

Nothing, nothing poured out on Jesus is ever a waste.

A good thing unto HIM is a good thing, above reproach.

The poor are still among us, as he said that day that they would be. And he stooped and soothed and spoke and spent on the poor over and over, so we must, too.

But nothing is wasted on Him. There is nothing that He cannot use. There is no sacrifice, no gift, no prayer, no pain, no love given to Him that would have been better spent elsewhere.

Jesus promised that day he would always remember the crazy thing that woman did, loving Him sacrificially and unashamedly and with abandon like that.

So this Sabbath of resting in Him, He's reminding me that everything broken and poured out on Him is of priceless value...can't be wasted. What a Friend, what a freedom, as we all pour out the very best that we have--ourselves--not on a cause, not on a church, not on a charity, not on a community, not on a country, but on Our Savior.