“She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.” Mark 14:8
There is a mindset today that paralyzes our good intentions, causing our heads to turn from that which is unpleasant and makes us uncomfortable. It’s the mentality that since the needs of the world are so great, and your personal ability to make a difference is so tiny, what one can do to change anything just won’t count. So the end result is that one does nothing.
Okay, you can’t do everything, but you can do something about the needs that cross your path. If Jesus Christ is your Lord, He also wants to be Lord of the resources, talents and time that He has entrusted to you – to use for Him, not to indulge upon yourself. What can you do?
First, take inventory of your resources. What are you actually giving or doing for anyone besides yourself? What you give isn’t as meaningful as what you keep for yourself. So you can’t write a large check; then what can you do? And are you willing to do it?
Next, take inventory of needs that you see around you. Do you know anyone living in a retirement home alone without a family? Possibly it’s the one you drive past where the old people in wheelchairs sit under the sun? Or how about that old man with a walker who slowly walks down your sidewalk?
Check out your skills and talents as well. Teach immigrants the language. Mentor someone who would like to benefit from your experience in the corporate world. Do you know a young, single mother who could use an occasional afternoon of babysitting?
Jesus commended the woman who anointed His feet with perfume, saying, “She did what she could...” (Mark 14:8). And when you do that, it will be more than enough.
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 3:11-13