Bring Spices to Jesus
(Part 2)
This is now the continual of ..
[GW*] Corinthians 13:13 “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love”
Another way in which we may honour Christ is in loving , endurance and sweet submission. It is easier, oftimes to toil and sacrifice even to uttermost than it is to be still and sweet in time of pain. Yet the perfume is very fragrant which rises from the heart which suffers, and yet, still sings. Just as the fragrance that a rose, whilst Paul & Silus were not just heavily shackled as well as in stocks in the dark. Yet such was their songs, that rose to Heaven, the fragrance must have filled the throne room that cause the prison to shake to the core. All the doors flung open, all the shackles and stocks fell apart. This is what it means .. “A fragrance which rises from the heart that suffers, and yet it still sings”.
Praise; we have seen already; is the highest function of a Christian life. Even amidst human joy and gladness it is sweet to Christ when the odours of adoration rises from the heart. But praise, when it is in the midst of trial, loss, pain is daily precious unto Christ. All true music is sweet, but no songs have such sweetness in the ear of Christ as those which rise out of the sick room [Hospital beds], where a patient suffers yet sings in their pain, through all the long night watches, or from the darkened chambers of grief, where the heart is broken and mourners look up through their tears and praise God with quivering lips. One of the happiest Christians I heard of was a woman who for many years had not drawn a breath without agony, every joint in her body was in pain, such was her life that it was in a state of continual torture. But yet her face was radiant with the out pouring of her inner joy, and her heart never ceased to sing. Such endurance, in Christ's name, is the bringing, the sweetest spices for Him.
You are sitting beside your dearest friend who is passing away. When you prayed with intensity, yet ending every pleading, with faith .. “nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” .. [NKJ ~Luke 22:42] .. At last it is evident that God will take your friend away. Bowing your head you breath out a prayer of sweet submission. Your heart is breaking, but there is no murmuring, no doubt; not withholding; no complaining. You trust God and are at peace with it. Christ smells the sweet savour of the spices you strew at His feet.
[NKJ] Luke 22:42 “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
None of us can live long in this thick life and not sometimes be touched, perhaps crudely, by other. How shall we endure things that hurt and wound us? We already know ‘what Jesus would do, what He did .. “When He was reviled and insulted, He did not revile or offer insult in return” .. They drove the nails into His gentle hands, and as the iron went crashing through His tender flesh prayed .. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” .. They then hung Him on the cross, but in the answer to that cruelty, of a withering curse upon the world, instead, He wrought salvation there for men. Now to read these verses in full will help to paint Christ’s response...
[AMPC*] 1 Peter 2:23 “When He was reviled and insulted, He did not revile or offer insult in return; [when] He was abused and suffered, He made no threats [of vengeance]; but he trusted [Himself and everything] to Him Who judges fairly”
[NKJ] Luke 23:33-4 “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do”
.. would we be so magnanimous ??
# That is the Lesson #
For us it means we are wronged, or hurt, or treated injuriously, If we would honour our Lord, we must endure with sweet forgiveness and patience. Love is always sweet, even when it meets only answering love, but it is never so sweet to Christ as when it meets unkindness; wrong; *injustice; cruelty; and still remains gentle and tender bathing in fragrance the hand that smites. To endure thus is to bring spices for Jesus.
The woman brought spices to strewn on the body of the dead Christ. We may bring love; devotion; service; submission; and endurance to honour a Christ who was dead for us but is now for us also alive for evermore.
Bible abbreviations explained
NKJ : New King James Translation
GW : Gods Word Translation
ERV : Easy Read Version
AMPC : Amplified Bible : Classic Edition
Word definitions from above
Sandalphon:~ Sandalphon is an archangel in Jewish and Christian writings, although not in scripture. Sandalphon figures prominently in the mystical literary traditions of Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity, notably in the Midrash, Talmud, and Kabbalah and is generally seen as gathering prayers and passing them on to God
injuriously:~ is an adverb meaning in a harmful, damaging, or hurtful
