I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 5th of March, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Gospel of Mark 14:9. Jesus said:
”Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
What had she done? She had taken a flask of very expensive perfume, she had broken it and poured it all over our beloved Master, and straight away the disciples rebuked her but especially Judas Iscariot. He had an ulterior motive, he wanted that money for himself.
But folks, I just want to say to you today because God has convicted me, we must be very careful that the work of the Lord does not become more important than the Lord of the work. Do you understand what I am saying? So, you are doing great things for Jesus - you are feeding the poor, you are looking after the sick, you are looking after the old age people, the orphans and the widows, but at what expense? It must never be at the expense of denying time with Jesus, giving Him first place in your life. You and I are not hirelings, we are not working for a wage, no - we are sons and daughters of the living God and we have to spend time with our beloved Jesus. That woman got it right, the disciples got it wrong. They said that that flask of expensive perfume should be sold and the money should be taken and given to the poor. The Lord says, “You will have the poor with you forever but I will not be with you for much longer.”
How much time are you spending with Jesus at the moment and how much time are you spending doing good works? We must be careful. You know, I had a massive 20-ton truck. We call it the seed-sower. We took food, we took clothes, and we took Bibles into Africa, right into the rural areas. Some places where those little children had never even seen a white person before, but you know, they would clamour, they would even fight, I saw it with my own eyes, for a Bible. Yes, they enjoyed the food and they appreciated the clothes but what they wanted was the Word of God. They knew that was where their hope was.
Lloyd George was a British prime minister, many years ago, and it is recorded, he said, “Education without Christ makes clever little devils.” Now, that is not a joke, you can educate somebody but if you don’t tell them about Jesus, what have you got? You have got nothing. And that is what happens, many times we put the work ahead of the Lord of the work. 1 Corinthians 13, that famous chapter about love, of course you can spell love, J-e-s-u-s, that is what Jesus is. I want to tell you something now, it says clearly in verse 3 of that very chapter,
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, (have not Jesus) it profits me nothing.”
Jesus bless you and goodbye.
