Give Everything to Jesus (Being Like the Sinful Woman Part 8)
This is the eighth and final entry in my blog series Being Like the Sinful Woman which was originally published during Lent 2019. I introduced the story of the sinful woman from Luke 7 in Part 1. Please start there if you have not read it already.
The sinful woman from Luke 7 possessed seven attributes that are indispensable when coming to Jesus. The seventh is that she gave all she had to Jesus. The sinful woman knelt down and kissed Jesus' feet, wet them with her tears, and dried them with her hair. Then she anointed His feet with an expensive ointment . This ointment was likely the most expensive possession the woman owned. Let that sink in. This woman thought so highly of the Lord, that she used her most valuable possession to anoint His feet. Today an ounce of Clive Christian No.1 Imperial Majesty Perfume costs over $12,000. Imagine worshipping Jesus so much that you would be willing to pour a bottle of that perfume out on His feet.
As crazy as that may sound in our money obsessed world, it demonstrates well the essential concept of giving everything to God. We should not hold back anything from the Lord. After all, everything really belongs to Him anyway. (Psalm 24:1 and 1 Corinthians 10:26). Like the parable of the talents, the master has given me gifts, but He expects me to use them for His glory. (Matt 25:14-30).
Our earthly possessions sometimes hold us back from truly committing to God. Like the rich young ruler who was not willing to sell all he had and follow Jesus, we are often more in love with our earthly treasure than our heavenly treasure. (Matt. 19:16-22). But earthly treasure will rust. Moths will eat it. Heavenly treasure lasts forever. (Matt 6:19).
Like the sinful woman, I must be willing to give everything to Jesus: my money, house, my life; everything. If I am not willing to give everything to Jesus, then I have not really given myself to Him. I am not His. I am still in rebellion against His authority. That is the path of sin and death which leads to eternal damnation. My full surrender, including the surrender of all of my earthly treasures, is the path that leads to salvation. And the only reason I have salvation at all, is because Jesus gave everything He had for me, when he gave His life on the cross. So shouldn't I be willing to give everything I have for Him?
Does this mean I must sell everything I own and give it to the poor? Not necessarily. It all depends on what Jesus wants me to do. That is the point. When I give everything to Jesus, I acknowledge that He owns it and not me, and that He is more important than anything else in the world. I acknowledge that without Him, nothing I own has any value. It's alright to own stuff, but it's not alright to treasure it above Jesus. For the things of this world are of so little value compared to the glory of Christ, that they should be poured out at His feet. Once I've surrendered everything to Jesus, holding nothing back, then and only then will I be able to live for His glory instead of my own.
Today's prayer:
Oh Lord, I give everything to You, for it is yours anyway. Please use me, my talents, my life, and my possessions for Your perfect will and to glorify Your holy name!