Wholly Yours
READ
Luke 7 is all about Jesus interacting with people from every walk of life — from servants to wealthy leaders, to people burdened by disease and tragedy. Starting in verse 36, Jesus accepts an invitation to a dinner party hosted by the religious elite. Imagine their surprise and disdain when, of all the people who could have walked through the door, a sinful, lowly woman entered uninvited. Not only was she unwelcome, but she was making her way straight to the guest of honor. She had the nerve to wash Jesus' feet with her tears and expensive perfume — pouring out her heart, and a small fortune, at his feet. While the religious leaders criticized her, Jesus saw her actions as an act of great love, and he looked on her with compassion and forgiveness.
Take a moment to read Luke 7:47:
"Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little."
REFLECT
Depending on your background and personality, you may or may not feel comfortable with the intimacy of this story. Early in my faith, I didn't get it. I was raised in a very religious, "right and wrong" sort of tradition that looked a lot more like the disdain of the Pharisees than the love and acceptance of Jesus. Back then, I quietly thought of myself as more righteous than others — and even though I never would have admitted it, I believed I deserved my forgiveness more than some people did.
Thank God He humbled me.
The longer I walk with Jesus, the more clearly I see my own brokenness. Adulthood, motherhood, marriage, sickness, suffering, paying bills, keeping a job, driving in traffic — these are all things that constantly reveal just how unable I am to hold it all together on my own. Being humbled hurts. There is nothing quite like looking into the faces of your kids after you've just screamed at them in impatience, or having to admit to a coworker how selfish you've been. It breaks me, over and over again.
So why would I welcome — and even celebrate — that kind of humility? Because recognizing our own brokenness helps us love more deeply. When I consider all the ways I don't deserve Him, Jesus' love and forgiveness feel even more miraculous. And when I see others' brokenness as a mirror of my own, it's so much easier to love them than when I'm looking down from my self-righteous tower.
Knowing my own brokenness makes me fall more in love with Jesus — and with people. And honestly, what more could I want than that?
Jesus' closeness to the fallen and the outcast is one of my favorite things about Him. I am the fallen outcast. And He still loves me.
I love the song "Wholly Yours" by David Crowder Band. It opens with words I immediately think of when I picture that woman with the perfume:
I am full of earth / You are heaven's worth / I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity / You are everything that is bright and clean / The antonym of me / You are divinity / But a certain sign of grace is this / From the broken earth, flowers come up / Pushing through the dirt
How amazing to serve a God who can grow flowers in our dirt. Hallelujah!
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you've read.
Reflecting on your faith journey, have you been more like the religious leaders or more like Jesus when it comes to seeing brokenness in others?
Do you tend to view your sins and shortcomings as a doorway to experiencing God's love, or do you carry them as shame? Try reframing the ways you've fallen as pathways to see God's love through forgiveness.
Is there someone in your life you could do a better job of loving? Reflect on the ways Christ has had to forgive you, and see if that love gives you strength to forgive and love others.
REST
Take a moment to rest in God's presence. Consider one thing you want to carry with you from your time in His Word, then close your devotional by praying:
Father, thank You for Your love of sinners and outcasts — including me. Thank You for reaching across the great divide that my sin created and saving me anyway. Please continue to show me the depth of Your love, and transform me into someone who loves deeply, just like You. Amen.
Port City writer Tara Adams wrote today’s devotional.