“She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.” Mark 14:8 NIV

 

Have you ever considered what you want people to say about you after you’re gone?

An utterly tired mother once exclaimed, “Just put: ‘She tried’ on my tombstone!” Many times, it feels like the best job we could do just isn’t enough.  Maybe you stayed up most of the night writing a paper for school only to see red ink all over it when it came back from the teacher, along with a disappointing grade at the top.

You may think that God is not unlike that strict teacher you had in school. It’s true that God has high standards. The Bible says that “Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood” (Romans 3:23-25a).

God gives each of us gifts. Your gifts aren’t my gifts, and God’s plans for you aren’t His for me. He asks us, just like he asked a man named Moses, “‘What is that in your hand?'” ‘A staff,’ [Moses} replied'” (Exodus 4:2 NIV). God uses what we each have, to do work that’s important to Him.

One woman in the Bible had a jar of expensive perfume. She used it to honor Jesus in worship and she was criticized for it. Of the woman, Jesus said, “She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial” (Mark 14:8 NIV).

Today, God asks us two simple questions: What have you got in your hand? Have you done what you could?