The Glory of A “Wasted Life” Spent at the Feet of Jesus
I have been listening to a Mike Bickle teaching called “Mary of Bethany” found on the Ihop.org site. I have listened to this probably once a week for the past month and I weep every time I listen to it.
“He that believeth on me need not perish”. The is a present-tense action- believing on Jesus. I love that He says believeth on rather than in. Bickle talks about how many people are saved, yet are parishing. If we are not totally devoted to Jesus, if we are not set apart from the normal “christianity of America”, then we are parishing. We are either wasting our life on Jesus or wasting it to the evil one. This so convicts my heart.
In this teaching Bickle reads through the scripture about Mary of Bethany pouring the $20, 000 worth of perfume on Jesus and anointing Him before His death. I love this story, and I love Mary’s heart. She extravagantly wasted everything she had on Jesus in that moment. She did not care what the people around her thought about her because she saw everything in her life in light of Him. Mary was desperate to give everything she had to Jesus. She couldn’t not give Him everything. She understood the one true thing that is of importance and she understood Christ’s value. I want to have this kind of heart, not just because I am very tired of it being about me, but more than that because the least I could do is give my life to Him. Lord, You deserve that and so much more. I am so sorry, Lord, for making it all about myself. I am sorry for not believing on you and for allowing fear to take over places in my heart. But I thank you that You are a God who is slow to anger and abounding in Love. Thank you that I do not have to dress up to come before your throne, but that your desire is a broken, contrite heart. Thank you that you are the Good Sherpherd and You continue to pursue me with Your love. Thank you that You do not give permission to anything or anyone else to satisfy us. Only You can satisfy. As frustrating as it makes me sometimes, I am SO thankful.