All We Can Do

Mark 14:8 - She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.

As I came across this passage in a devotional today, what Jesus said here struck me as interesting.  Like a lot of us, I have read it several times and I was always focused on the act, and how she chose to honor and anoint Jesus before His death.  She gave up the most expensive bottle of perfume she had for Jesus' sake.  But it wasn't the monetary value that was important, despite the disciples' complaints.  It's never about the deed, but the heart behind it.

What Jesus says at the beginning of this verse is what piqued my attention today.  He said, "She has done what she could."  Jesus wasn't focused on the monetary value either, as evidenced by His rebuke of the disciples' complaining.  This woman honored and anointed our Savior the best way she could think of.  And that was more important than anything.

It reminded me of Jesus' words in the Gospel of John where He said, "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).  Jesus wasn't telling them (and us) to figure it out.  He was telling us that He was the best (and only) way to sure and complete peace, because He had already overcome everything.

How often do we get anxious or feel defeated because we can't accomplish something?  All Jesus asks of us is that we are all in for Him.  I remember my dad once told me as a teenager that the world doesn't meet anyone half way.  That if I wanted something, I had to go out and make it happen.  This is true.  The world doesn't meet anyone half way.  But God gladly does.

That doesn't mean that we only have to give Him half our effort.  He requires us to be all in for Him and His Kingdom.  We are expected to be intentional in nurturing our part of the intimate love relationship that He desires to have with us.  In Psalm 116:2 the Psalmist tells us, "Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!"  When we go all in for God, and stop trying to rely on our own strength and provisions for everything, He meets us half way.

I believe that the reason some people walk away from their faith in God, is because they aren't truly all in.  They fail to see that God doesn't just give us what we want.  Sometimes the answer is no.  But when it's a 'no', it's for a good reason.  It's because He has something much better for us.  We all tend to live under the assumption that we know what's best for us and we only want what is good for us.  That's just simply not true.  God knows best, and that will always be true.

It's easy for us to believe that we can give ourselves peace.  We think that if I can just get over this bump in the road, I'll be okay.  In a recent devotional I read Greg Laurie said, "It [peace] doesn't come from what we are, but from what He has done," and that if we want the peace of God, we first have to have peace with God.  That is so true.

If we want that true and everlasting peace that we are always in search of, we have to relinquish control of our lives to the God who always knows best.  When we are all in - heart, mind, and strength - He will bend down and meet us half way to listen and provide.  That's really all we can do.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding me that I don't have all the answers and that You don't expect me to.  All You expect is for me to do all I can.  To be all in for You.  I pray that I will daily remember to trust You fully - heart, mind, and strength - so that You will fulfill Your promise to bend down to listen and provide.  I trust that this is the only way to have the true peace that You have promised.  I pray for those that are struggling to come to this realization.  My prayer is that they will see that You don't expect them to be perfect, You just expect them to be themselves so that You can mold and shape them into something so much better.  I trust that You only want what is best for all of us, and I am willing to go where You will lead.  In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen!



God Bless!!!