Do A Beautiful Thing

UV 686/10,000 Do a beautiful thing to Jesus “ Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “ Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.” Matthew 26 v 10 Jesus is aware of what’ s happening in each of our lives, all the time. The disciples were upbraiding the woman for “wasting” the equivalent of a whole year’s wages by pouring an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume on the head of Jesus. But, Jesus defends her action and chides them by saying, “ She has done a beautiful thing to me.” Mary Magdalene was giving up a vestige of her life as a prostitute of Magdala- her most valued perfume that was part of her trade in flesh. When she was condemned to death by the Pharisees, she had been saved from physical death and spiritual condemnation by the forgiveness that Jesus had extended to her. This was her way of showing her life had changed and to demonstrate her devotion and gratitude to Jesus. He is aware of every little and big thing we have done out of love for Jesus. Each of us should aim and strive to be a beautiful person for Jesus in this world. We need to cultivate our inner beauty. As one man of God said recently in my hearing, “ The only true beauty is the beauty of the soul.” People look at our skin colour, our external features and body shape and reach judgements. But the Lord judges us by the beauty of the soul and by the beautiful things we have endeavoured to do for Him. We develop the beauty of the soul by nurturing the beautiful attitudes that Jesus enumerated in the Sermon on the Mount. Even after hearing the sermon of the Mount directly, the disciples negative attitudes had not changed. They calculated the cost as we would do to this day of the simple act of adoration of the woman. God has created man to be the best among all creation, the crown of creation but once a negative attitude takes root in us, man becomes a beast with the negative A taking the central place in our lives. Best+A=BeAst. Instead, when we counter the negative attitude and induce positive attitudes within us, each of us become the alabaster jar of expensive perfume. Our life and all we do will bring the fragrance of Christ to the nostrils of God and into the lives of people around us. The woman was unwittingly preparing Jesus’s body for His burial. For Jesus did what the woman did to Him: He poured out every drop of His blood to wash and anoint us with the perfume of salvation. The difference was that the outpouring of Jesus’s love anointing on us is to prepare us for the resurrection of our bodies and for eternal life. We need to ask ourselves what has Jesus saved us from? When we realize the extent of His grace towards us, we will then be moved to ask, “ What is the beautiful thing I can do for Jesus?” We must be prepared in our heart like Abraham to give up to God that which is most precious to us in our lives. When I won by the grace of God, the British Gurukul Scholarship for Excellence and Leadership in 1997 and was introduced to the Queen as an honour, I asked myself what is the best gift I can give her. Then, I decided to give her a “ Bible for Busy People” writing in it, “ May God , the King of Kings bless your Majesty.” What pleases the Lord is remembered by Him. What the woman did is remembered to this day throughout the world. The perfume would have evaporated or been used up in some time but since she gave it all to the Lord, its effect lasts to this day as an example to us who believe. What we do for ourselves will not last but what we do unto and for the Lord will last forever. Indeed, it came literally true for five years later on the Queen’s Jubilee of her coronation, the Lord enabled me to win the 15, 000 GBP inaugural Queen’s Award for Innovation in Police Training and Development in 2002. Prateep V Philip https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRfyzsSWrBB0Tkm2o2f4QU1HkfuTtQf_Wn3kGRBSPE7MILGYbvQ Listen to this Blessong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_KXsMCJgBQ