a lifelong offering

While worshipping at the piano, I started to have a conversation with the Lord. I was singing about sacrifice and the Lord brought me to the story found in Luke 7:36-50:

  A sinful woman crashes a dinner party where Jesus is and starts washing His feet with her hair and tears. She proceeds to anoint His feet with the most precious item she had: an alabaster jar of perfume. She gave everything to Him, totally exposed to the world around her.

  I saw this scene play out in my head, but I was the woman on my knees before Jesus. I was the woman who was offering all that I had: my heart. I gave Him my heart and I told Him I knew it wasn’t much but that it was all I had, and He could have it all. Jesus looked at me and said, “It is everything to me. It is a fragrant offering, and it means everything to me.”

That is how Jesus sees us. It does not matter what our offering looks like, it only matters that we give our whole lives to Him. He does not want part of us, He wants it all. Just like the woman who gave her last two coins to the Lord in the temple (Luke 21:1-4). To everyone around her, it seemed like an insignificant offering in comparison to what the rich people were giving.

But God doesn’t see things like we do. He looks at the heart

(1 Samuel 16:7).

  It wasn’t about the amount she gave; it was that she gave it all. She had nothing left to give. For her, God was worth every last penny. He is worthy of it all.

That is the decision we have to make. Is God worth our everything? If you only had two pennies left, would you give them to Him if He asked? He is asking for your whole heart. Do you believe that He is worthy of it?

Jesus came and died for you so that He could have your whole heart. He died to restore relationship with us so that we could live our entire lives with Him. How beautiful is that reality?

Jesus’ pursuit of you was not for selfish gain. We cannot give Him anything He needs. He is God. He can have anything He wants. But Jesus pursues us simply out of pure, unconditional love. He could not imagine a reality where relationship with us was an impossibility due to our sin.

  He died to rewrite the story that we had written without Him. The story of sin and broken relationship was rewritten with the title: Redeemed, Forgiven, and Restored.

  Thank you Jesus for dying so that we could live with you forever starting now.

  I want to live a life of a constant fragrant aroma of sacrifice. A daily decision to give Him everything. Because He is just that worthy of my everything. Thank you Jesus.