Giving Your Best | Matthew 26:6-7

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Daily Truths. When I was growing up, my mom and dad oftentimes

[00:00:11] would tell me, and we told our kids this as well, whatever you do, give it your best.

[00:00:16] Do it all to the glory of God. Now, I always wondered where that came from.

[00:00:21] Well, you know where it comes from? It comes from the Bible.

[00:00:25] We're in Matthew 26, verses 8 and 9, and this is what it says.

[00:00:31] Now, when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, now remember, Bethany is just outside of Jerusalem.

[00:00:38] It's like a suburb of Jerusalem, just two miles away from the city gate of Jerusalem.

[00:00:43] And he was at this house called Simon the leper. We don't know anything about this guy, except that Jesus apparently had healed him.

[00:00:49] And so he was so excited. So he invites Jesus to come to the house and probably the disciples as well.

[00:00:55] As a matter of fact, we know the disciples were there because what they said later, just a few verses later.

[00:01:01] Also, we assume that Mary and Martha were there because their hometown was Bethany.

[00:01:07] So we pick it up now. When Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment.

[00:01:18] Who was this? Many scholars and John and Mark seem to indicate this.

[00:01:23] Many scholars believe it was Mary of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, right?

[00:01:27] They lived in the same town. And Mary, as you know, had a deep devotion to the Lord.

[00:01:32] Remember when Jesus came to their home, Martha was doing all the baking and cleaning and fixing and all that kind of stuff.

[00:01:38] And what was Mary doing? Sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to him teach.

[00:01:42] Now she gets out this very expensive perfume.

[00:01:46] It's called a fragrant ointment called Nard that comes from the hill country of India.

[00:01:52] It's in an alabaster jar, which is a very expensive jar that it was contained in, right?

[00:01:58] This was probably a family heirloom.

[00:02:01] This perfume or ointment was very expensive, usually prepared for someone's burial.

[00:02:09] Hmm.

[00:02:10] A woman came up to him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table.

[00:02:20] Wow.

[00:02:20] So what was Mary doing?

[00:02:23] Taking this oil, as a matter of fact, Mark tells us that she broke the top of it and poured it all over Jesus' head.

[00:02:29] She listened to this.

[00:02:30] She was giving her very best to the Lord.

[00:02:35] I started out this podcast by saying, do you give your very best to the Lord?

[00:02:40] As a matter of fact, Paul talks about that in the book of Colossians.

[00:02:43] He said, whatever you do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus.

[00:02:47] And whatever you do, do it as if you were doing it for the Lord.

[00:02:51] So contained in those words is let's give it our best.

[00:02:56] Give it your best in your marriage.

[00:02:58] Give it your best at your work.

[00:03:00] Give it your best at school.

[00:03:02] Give it your best in the church.

[00:03:05] Give it your best in the community.

[00:03:07] The Lord deserves the very best we can give.

[00:03:11] Look at Mary.

[00:03:12] She said, I got this expensive ointment, but I'm going to use it for the head of my Savior, Lord, Redeemer and King, the promised Messiah.

[00:03:19] I'm giving him my very best.

[00:03:23] So may it be with us, my friends.

[00:03:25] Think about this.

[00:03:26] This is where the statement if you were brought up like me, this is where the statement came from.

[00:03:30] Give it your best.

[00:03:32] Right?

[00:03:33] So whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

[00:03:37] Give it your best because we're serving ultimately in our vocations in our where we go to school out in the community and our marriages.

[00:03:47] And especially my friends, let this happen in your marriage.

[00:03:50] If there's any place and you've heard me say this before, if there's any place we can serve one another in love, it's in the marriage.

[00:03:57] So give it your best in your marriage.

[00:04:00] And if you think about it and you say, I'm really not doing that right now, then repent and make it right with God and make it right with your mate.

[00:04:10] Right?

[00:04:10] Do all things to the glory of God.

[00:04:13] And that is today's daily truth.

[00:04:15] Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:04:18] Thank you for tuning in to Daily Truths with Dave Ullman.

[00:04:21] Pastor Dave Ullman is the pastor of Mount Hope Church in Boulder, Colorado.

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[00:04:36] Come back tomorrow for your next Daily Truth.