Isn’t love extreme? Doesn’t it make us do things we would not normally do? Doesn’t it take us to places we never imagined we would go? The answer is “yes!”

In the story from this passage, Jesus is having a meal at someone’s house. During the meal, a woman comes in with a very expensive perfume and breaks the bottle on Jesus. Instead of selling the perfume and donating the money to the ministry as some thought to be a better use, Jesus defends her because it was an act of sheer love.

Love is what should move us to do anything we do, especially for the Lord. At times, we can be caught in a cycle of obligation, going through motions, empty of the love for the One we are doing our service. Jesus allows such a “waste” on Him because it was an act of love not for a show or to make her look “special”.

We can seek to do a good work but the work that isn’t motivated by love for Jesus isn’t for Him but for ourselves. The woman in the story wasn’t concerned about how everyone else felt about her or thought of her expensive and costly expression. She was concerned with showing her love for Him and that was all that mattered.

The woman wasn’t trying to be used by God in doing this unto Jesus. Her focus was simply love of Him. When we love Him, others will certainly see that and be moved by it. Her pouring out of the perfume was a symbol of the love that had already been flowing from her heart.

What’s the wildest, most absurd thing you’ve done in the name of love?

Do you find yourself going through motions? How’s your love for the Lord these days?

Is there some way that you want to show the Lord you love Him? What’s keeping you from it?