Thursday, August 14, 2008

Devoted to Jesus

As I continue to walk and grow in the intimate knowledge of the Lord Jesus, I realize what a powerful figure Mary of Bethany is in human history.

There's a lot I could share on this but will keep it brief this week and touch on three simple realities about Mary:
  • First, she had obviously been so captivated by the Man Jesus that nothing could budge her from the place of being at His feet. (If you look very closely at her life, you begin to get a little idea of the enormous pressure she fhad to stand up under in order to stay in this place of full devotion and dependence on Him - there was societal pressure, religious pressure and personal pressure.)
  • In response to her insistence on being wholy devoted to Him as First Love, MANY have been impacted and empowered throughout history; to this day, her life continues to inspire lovesick worshipers to stand under the massive pressures that want to stifle and distract one away from pure devotion to Jesus.
  • Jesus defended her position and continues to do so today. In the end, all true followers of Jesus will go Mary's way rather than her going the way of others.

The beauty of Mary is that none of this was on her agenda. She simply wanted to be near Him and listening to Him as much as possible and ended up being a powerful figure in human history, esteemed by Jesus as one who approved the one "needful thing" and who persevered in that one thing.

Blessings on you this week - even our weak gestures towards seeking after Him with all our heart counts as beautiful in His eyes, so be blessed as you struggle for the one needful thing - Jesus!

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