GIVE HIM YOUR ALL

by Jeff Hagan
(Tacoma, WA, USA)

Reading: Mark 14:3-9

“...a woman with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his Jesus' head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, 'Why was this ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.' And they scolded her. But Jesus said, 'Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me'” (Mark 3:3-6, ESV).

How many of you like a nice expensive cologne or perfume? It's crazy how expensive they can be, but we still buy them and we use just a little dab here and a little dab there because we want it to last as long as possible. But the woman in our passage didn't care about using her expensive perfume cautiously. She took it and broke the jar open, not just took the lid off, she broke it open so the perfume could flow down upon Jesus.

It is often said that we are to give God our all. At times we even think we are living in such a way that we actually are giving Him our all, but we aren't. When we give ourselves to God we tend to do it in a controlled way. We pour out a dab here and a dab there, hoping it's enough for others to notice and for God to be given the glory. In reality, we should be pouring out our entire selves for God, we should be letting all of our light shine for other to see and for God to be given the glory (see Matthew 5:16). That's what God wants from us, He wants all of our attention, all of our focus, gifts, talents, and thoughts. He wants all of us.

I think for most people they remember the woman in this passage because of her humility and how expensive the perfume was that she decided to freely give as an offering to Jesus. Those are good things to remember for sure. What always sticks out in my mind is the fact that she broke the jar open so all of the perfume would be poured onto Jesus. She held none of it back, not even a drop.

Perhaps I'm stretching the analogy a bit, but when we give all of ourselves to God we are offering up a priceless gift in which He takes great pleasure in. So, I ask not only you but myself as well, are we only going to give God a dab here and a spray there, or will we break open ourselves and pour our entire being out to God?

Suggested Prayer: Lord, help us to have the strength to give you our all. Only when we have given you our all can we be all we are meant to be. Help us to not just pray the words, but mean the words as we say them and to live out what it is we are praying. Give us the ability to give you our all anew each day.