Focus: Seize The Moment!

Text: Mk.14:8

"She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying."

A week before Jesus Christ died Mary lavished a costly ointment on Him - an expression of her devotion and love for Him. The people around her saw what she did as a waste of resources, but she saw it as worship. The Lord Jesus Christ told the people not to bother her for doing what she could. The assessment of Christ is that "she has done what she could." She did what she did to the limit of her ability. She rendered worship to the utmost of her capacity. She served the Lord with all her strength. She gave her best to the Lord. The Lord was deserving of the costliest stuff in her possession. 

Paul said about the churches in Macedonia that "to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves" (2Cor.8:3). They gave to the Lord by their means and also beyond their means. They made sacrifices as expressions of their faith in Christ.

Mary acted like a woman who saw tomorrow and acted accordingly. Mark writes, "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had BOUGHT sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun… Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him" (Mk.16:1,2,6). Luke reports, "And they returned, and PREPARED spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment" (Lk.23:56). In John 19:38-40, John added his own report. The Lord Jesus Christ died an hour before the start of Sabbath, and for that, no one had the time to fulfill the rites of proper embalmment. They bought all the required spices and prepared them, and then waited for the Sabbath day to be over to do it. But it was not to be, because they got there after the Sabbath and discovered that Christ was no longer in the grave. He had risen from the dead. If it wasn't for Mary, Christ would have gone to the grave without being embalmed. Mary saw a divine opportunity and cashed in on it. With prophetic sight and insight she anointed Christ against His day of burial. She demonstrated a high level of spirituality in her action.

Mary wrote her name in the archive of Scripture by thinking ahead and acting proactively. She invested in the future of her Lord.

She saw ahead and seized the moment.

Tomorrow is born out of the things we do today. The future waits for those who have wisely invested in it. We should commit ourselves to doing something now that will impact positively on our future. Neil Anderson wisely said, "Remember, you are the only one who can keep you from becoming the person God wants you to be." Live a life of investing in God and you will never live to regret it. Sacrifice your alabaster box to the Lord. Someone says that "life owes you nothing but opportunity to grow and make something happen." Make something happen; make the future count for the glory of God! Move the kingdom of God forward. Impact someone's future. Invest in the future of a fellow Christian for Christ's sake. Divine opportunity is golden; don't waste it! Use God's means to achieve God's ends. Let God use you! Use the resources in your life to serve the will of God in your generation.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter