WHERE Does a Lavish Love Come From?

The lavish love of Mary shown for Jesus in anointing Him with a year's wages worth of precious ointment did not just show up that evening, six days before Jesus' crucifixion. It was NOT the result of a sudden emotional surge. She was not into impressing the gathered guests. WHERE did it come from?

• It came from a GRATEFUL heart. Mary had seen Jesus raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. She was in the home that evening of the anointing of one Simon, apparently a former leper, whom Jesus had healed. She had heard many stories of Jesus' amazing works throughout Israel as he sat in her home during His visits to Bethany. O, what Jesus had done for Lazarus and Simon and Mary and so many others! Gratitude flowed like a river at flood stage from her heart.
• It came from KNOWING Jesus. It was Mary who sat at Jesus' feet soaking up His unmatched teaching in Luke 10:38-42. She devoted herself to being His disciple in every way possible. His words had soaked into her soul and transformed her. She believed. And as her personal and experiential knowledge of Christ increased, so did her love. And on this night her love overflowed in a lavishness that saw no limit to its expression.

Friends, it is the will of God for this same kind of lavish love to flow from our hearts (Romans 12:1). It is this kind of love that gives irrefutable evidence that we are indeed Christ's transformed ones. It is this kind of love that makes obedience and sacrifice a joy, not an intolerable burden. It is this love that sees our greatest sacrifices as pitiful responses to His immense love and grace and character.

Does this kind of love flow towards the Savior from YOUR heart?

• Are you regularly amazed and overwhelmed at the grace of Christ to die as SIN for your sin?
• Are you growing in the KNOWLEDGE of Christ from the intake of His Word and from daily obedience to Him as Lord?
• Do you cry to Him for a greater, purer flow of love from your heart towards Him and others?

It is NO CLICHE to say, "To KNOW Him is to LOVE Him."

If you find your love for Jesus choked off...go to Him in desperate prayer, asking for His Spirit to break the dam of love in your heart. Go back to the Word with an eye looking for Jesus EVERYWHERE. Ponder deeply the biblical truths of His substitute sacrificial death for YOU.