Pass-The_ Ball...: May 2013

Friday, May 31, 2013

Cato: Lessons From a Self-Made Man | The Art of Manliness

When Dad Is Gone Again...For Good - Life - EBONY

Marian Wright Edelman: Numb -- Spiritually Dead -- Nation

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Rejoice in the Lord

This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
(Psalm 118:24)

1. Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I understand and appreciate the energizing power of rejoicing in the now. Today I joyfully celebrate the present and all of the possibilities that it presents. I exercise my will—I will rejoice, and I WILL be glad in this day! Today I choose to wear the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness. I choose happiness! I choose joy!

2. Today I will resist the temptation to whine, complain, murmur, grumble, mourn, lament, moan and groan, be depressed, feel sorry for myself, feel down and out, feel dejected, feel discontented, feel oppressed, be sad or even be in a bad mood. Instead, my merry heart will do me good like a medicine…I will glory in my infirmities (for when I am weak, then I am strong)...I will count it all joy when I fall into various trials...I will leap for joy at persecution...the joy of the Lord will be my strength!

3. Today I will laugh, finding the humor in my current situations. I will recognize what is funny, and I will not hesitate to enjoy it. I will not waste today by living in regret, but with joy I will draw water out of the wells of salvation. I will even find the proper way to appreciate the absurd and the ridiculous. I will let God use the foolish things of the world to confound the wise around me.

4. Today I will enter the Kingdom by becoming like a little child...laughing... playing... having fun...not taking life too seriously. I will make the effort to enjoy my day. I will smile at people. I will be a pleasure to be with. People will enjoy my company today because my joy will be both attractive and infectious. I will be a blessing to others.

5. Today, for the joy that is set before me, I will endure my cross. I will know the reality of the resurrection and, therefore, will see no situation as hopeless. Life will always triumph over death. I will celebrate my life. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will live big in me today!

6. Today I will be optimistic. I will see the glass half full. I will think positively. I will think on those things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of a good report. I will walk in the Mind of Christ. I will be proactive in dealing with the people around me and with all of their issues. My joyful mind will cause me to think like a winner!

7. Today I will be thankful to God and grateful for my life. I will make melody in my heart to the Lord in an attitude of praise and worship. I will be renewed by the refreshing laughter of Christ in my spirit. This is my day that the Lord has made - I will rejoice and be glad in it and, today, I will live in the now!

Father, help me to remember to rejoice today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Letting Go and Letting Dad! | Black and Married With Kids.com - A Positive Image of Marriage and Family

"The Talk" That Changes Everything....3 Scenarios To Consider! | Black and Married With Kids.com - A Positive Image of Marriage and Family

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Intentionally - From the Executive Director

A couple of weeks ago, my small group leader challenged us to find a word that would serve as a cornerstone for our year, which would stimulate us to be better individuals, that would motivate us to become stronger spiritually.

As we went around the room, there were some great terms being chosen –faith, honesty, wait, truth, caring, etcetera. When it came time for me to reveal mine, although it has been something I have been trying to incorporate into my life for a little while now, I felt the Spirit prodding me to proclaim “intentional” as my foundational word.

With each passing year, I have strongly believed God was going to “do a work” on me. I sensed it was going to be “life-changing” in many ways. I thought I would be able to reflect back and pinpoint this moment in time where my life turned the corner or “took off.”

Maybe in the past this has been the “hopeful wishes” of an optimist, or the positive thoughts of an idealist, however I have truly seen glimpses of how God can work in and through my life when I approach it intentionally.

After searching a number of Bible translations, I was hard-pressed to find any instance or form of the word being used, save one. Nevertheless, this philosophy can be argued as the basis of how God wants us all to live.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15).

Many of us, me included at times, “desire” a change or “want” something different for our life, but we never take the steps to do anything about it. We just “go with the flow” and live the lukewarm existence which has plagued us for so long, and then wonder why we’re still at the same place years later.

We say we want a new job, but haven’t bothered to search, decide what we’d like to do or even prepare a resume.

We affirm we want to be in a relationship, but we don’t put ourselves in a position to meet new people or deviate from our past patterns of behavior.

We declare we are going to accomplish “something” this year, but don’t take any steps in order to do so.

Whatever it is, we have to decide to make a concerted effort to do it. No one else is going to do it for us. You must approach it intentionally .

Friday, May 17, 2013

Stepdads: Don’t Compete With the Child’s Father

Bridging the Gap Between Faith and Work | NAIJALIFE MAGAZINE

Ten Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Dad | NAIJALIFE MAGAZINE

theunitedvoices.org-AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY

theunitedvoices.org

GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT - What Black Men Think

WHY HE HATES YOU - What Black Men Think

Thursday, May 16, 2013

RAPPER JAY-Z LAUNCHES 2013 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM FOR NEEDY STUDENTS | The Afro-American Newspapers | Your Community. Your History. Your News.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

A Woman of Valor-Mother's Day Truth

A Woman of Valor

If you’re struggling with feelings of perfectionism and finding yourself feeling anxious and inadequate, you are not alone. I think it's very common for Christian women to find ourselves caught up in those feelings, it's something we have to be aware of, something that has always been a trap for people of faith.

It’s human nature to take simple truth and make it into something rule-and-works based...in Bible times, the Sabbath was an example of this. God made a day for us to just relax, take the day off, and revel in His love for us! And over time, his people came up with 1,521 rules surrounding what could and could not be done on the Sabbath. That’s a real count...1,521 rules! So instead of resting, people were spending the whole day looking over their shoulders, stressed out about accidentally breaking one of those rules. And, as we’ve read in the Bible, they also wasted a good deal of time watching other people to see if they were breaking the rules! I can just picture God rolling his eyes in frustration as people tip-toed around, not enjoying their God-given day off! Jesus addressed this issue in Mark, 2:27:

“Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

It’s pretty easy to fall into making Bible verses that are intended by God to build us up into lists of rules that stress us out. I’d love to say that Christian women never fall into that trap...who, me? But....Let’s talk about Proverbs 31. I’m going to read the passage for you, in case you haven’t heard it in awhile (this is from Proverbs 31:10-15)

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family, and portions for her female servants. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night."

And it goes on from there, you can read the whole thing here. I’m pretty sure that most of you guys have some experience with these verses. How many of you...honestly now...read these verses and feel like you’re doing a good job measuring up to them? We tend to read this passage like a laundry list of things we are not doing right. We know that the Proverbs 31 woman is something we want to aspire to be like, and don’t get me wrong...my heart is not to say otherwise! It’s good to be realistic about areas in which you need to improve and it’s good to be honest about your own shortcomings. However, when we set a goal for being perfect and we measure ourselves against an image of perfection that we think we see in every other Christian woman we know, we are setting ourselves up for some issues.

How many of you have done a study on the Proverbs 31 woman? And...honestly again...how many of you came out of that study still feeling like you weren’t good enough or maybe even feeling worse? Women are bad about comparing ourselves to others. We can get so caught up in ways to fulfill each of those verses that when we discuss them we end up mentally comparing ourselves to each other and feeling either smug because we think we’ve got that particular couple of verses down, or inferior because we realize that other women are doing great in an area that we are weak in.

I think we’re sort of wired to compare ourselves to other women. What happens all too often, even in the case of Proverbs 31, is that we end up focusing inward and become so self-critical that we forget that there is no condemnation in Christ, and that He doesn’t want us going around feeling bad because we’re not perfect. We know for sure he doesn’t want us going around judging other women because they are not perfect, but we tend to forget that it’s also not OK to do that to ourselves! Wait...don’t feel guilty and judge yourself for judging yourself! Just kidding. Sort of.

I realized I had an issue in this area awhile ago when I was driving somewhere and accidentally missed a turn. Twenty minutes later I was still berating myself for not paying attention and wasting time...not just being annoyed with myself but really giving in to negative self talk. And I realized how much I do that day to day over all sorts of things! The missed turn was really the least of my worries. It had been a really stressful, difficult few months and I realized that even more than the actual circumstances that were causing the stress, my unhappiness was due to forgetting who I was in Christ and focusing on feelings of not measuring up.

Back to Proverbs 31: I read something recently that really made me rethink this group of verses, and it changed not only my point of view about the P31 woman but also about myself. Did you know that in the Jewish tradition, these verses are sung by the man of the house to his wife every week at the beginning of the sabbath? The family gathers around the table and the man sings this to celebrate his wife and how awesome she is. They call the song “Eishes Chayil”, which means Woman of Valor. Now, I’m sure that Jewish wives and mothers are indeed awesome, but I’m also pretty sure that the average Jewish woman isn’t doing things much differently than we are! Her worth lies in her faith in God. I’m certain that in the week leading up to that sabbath song, the woman being sung to has not done each and every one of the verses in Proverbs 31. But I bet that Jewish women don’t feel threatened by the P31 woman, and I suspect strongly that this particular set of verses might not even drive Jewish women to spend an hour pinning 47 different types of hand made gifts on Pinterest. Um, not that I've done that or anything.

The difference is in looking at Proverbs 31 as a celebration about what we are already doing, a reaffirmation that you a a woman of valor...and not as a laundry list of things that you need to be working on in order to measure up! Understand my heart here, I’m not for a second saying that if you are kicking back on a daily basis spending your day watching re-runs of Gilligan’s Island and eating Ben and Jerry’s you shouldn’t let Proverbs 31 give you a kick in the pants. I’m just saying that we should remind ourselves of who we are in Christ...that, as it says in Romans 8:1-3a:

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.”

Friends, There is No Condemnation In Christ and he loves us completely, and he knows we are a work in progress, and if need be he’s even waiting right there to help pull us off the couch, flip off the TV, toss the ice cream and help us get back into gear. He is for us, not against us...he's waiting for us to come to him with our burdens, our problems, our shortcomings.

Another thing to remember about Proverbs 31 is this: When those verses were written, I don't think they were exactly rocket science. Spinning flax into thread would be difficult for most of us today, but back then that’s just what you did if you wanted to wear clothes. And she made her family’s clothes, but they didn’t have Old Navy back then and they each of them would only have had a few articles of clothing. She was clearly not lazy and she clearly got things done, she was operating out of her faith in God and love for her family. But she wasn’t doing ALL of these things ALL at the same time and ALL in the same season. I wonder if those verses were written today, what would they look like?

“She comparisons shops and clips coupons, she price matches at Walmart to get the best deal.”

“Her arms are strong, holding the toddler in one arm while stirring the chili with the other.”

“She washes and folds all her kids’ outgrown clothes and sells them at the consignment store, she uses the money to buy seeds for her garden.”

“She burns the midnight oil making a costume for the school play; although he is only playing a radish her child will at least look good.”

“She serves dinner at The Road Home, and when she can’t be there she sends a turkey noodle casserole.”

In all seriousness though, rather than berate ourselves for all the things we are not, for the ways we fall short and the struggles we have, we need to remember to celebrate the truth of who we really are as Christians: Loved by God, cherished daughters adopted into the household of the King of Kings, saved by grace, washed of sin, cherished and loved by God himself.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Daughter of Abuse Sees Only Love in Her Own Daughter — The Good Men Project

Faith of Our Mothers - Theology for the Church

Mothers On A Mission -Rev. M.D. Rogers

Mothers On A Mission

2 Timothy 1.1-5, 3.15-17

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, 2to Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, 4longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. 5For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.
2 Timothy 1:1-5 (NASB)

Eunice was a single mother in a scary world. She was a Jewish believer in Jesus. She’d been married to a Greek unbeliever, who’d either left or died. Like today, raising a child in a single parent home, was no picnic.

Then again, there are times of compensation. A little boy invaded the dress department of a big department store and said to the salesperson, "I want to buy my mom a dress, but I don’t know what size." "Is she tall or short, fat, or skinny?" asked the clerk. "Well, she’s just perfect," answered the boy. She wrapped-up a "size 8" for him. Two day’s later Mom came and exchanged the dress for a "size 16."

Eunice’s boy Timothy was that kind of compensation. And there were good reasons. Eunice was a wise and spiritually-strong mother. Her priorities were learned at her mother Lois’ knee, and passed along to Tim. The world pushes transitory values - money, position, power and fame. You can sense that with a quick look at the TV lineup for most evenings - American Idol, Fear Factor, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, and many more.

Mother’s Day is a good day to review the basics of a mother’s priorities. We find these in 2 Timothy 3.15-17. Paul is writing to a young pastor which he had taken under his wing to train. Let’s look-in on the review Paul conducted with his young protégé’ named Timothy.

Priority #1: Savior
15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:15 (NASB)

INTRODUCE AND EXPECT

Eunice led her boy Timothy to know the Lord Jesus Christ. She taught him about Jesus, and expected that he would accept Christ as Savior.

The word "leads" in this verse speaks of anticipation. When a mother anticipates, prays and leads toward Christ, she has every right to expect the cooperation of God in bringing her child to the Lord. This sounds simple; but it is not easy...or cheap. Susannah Wesley is said to have prayed one hour every day for her children. She was strict. But she was unselfishly faithful. She had six rules for teaching her children the priority of the Savior:
1. Subdue self-will in a child.
2. Teach him to pray as soon as he can speak.
3. Give him nothing he cries for, and only what is good for him when he asks politely.
4. Punish no fault confessed, but let no sinful act to go unnoticed.
5. Reward good behavior.
6. Strictly observe all promises you have made to your child.

What is so familiar about these rules is it is exactly the way the Lord treats us. Knowing the love of the mother up-close and personal, the children will learn to love the love of the Father in heaven.

Priority #2: Scripture
15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings….
16All Scripture is inspired by God…
2 Timothy 3:15a, 16a (NASB)

TEACH THEM YOUNG

Eunice taught her son the scriptures starting at a very young age. Jewish boys start formal instruction in the Scriptures at age 5; younger than that is not too soon. It is said that Susannah Wesley had 19 children. (Whew!) What is more, this mother of Charles and John Wesley took each child aside for an hour every week to discuss and teach them the principles of spiritual living. Those two sons touched two continents for Christ.

The best formula I know for teaching children is to
a. Bring them to church on Sunday;
b. Apply what is learned on Sunday all throughout the rest of the week.

Mothers, nobody will MAKE you do this. In fact, it is just the opposite today. With God removed from public places and the schools faithfully teaching secular humanism, your child has little chance of growing up to be a Timothy, or with any kind of Christian values, unless YOU teach him!

On the other hand, if you won’t live it, don’t bother to teach it in any other way. They will learn what you live. A child that sees her mother carry a Bible to church, but never opens it from Monday to Saturday knows that Christianity is only for Sunday.

Priority #3: Service

16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)

All of Timothy’s instruction in the Word, and God’s way had to do with preparing him for service to the Lord. As we learn in Acts (16.1-5), Timothy’s good reputation had its start in his mother’s good reputation. Often the best legacy we can leave our children is not a pile of money or possessions, but the simple fact of a good name. Eunice’s reputation replicated itself in her son, and Paul had no trouble taking a chance on this young man. Eunice served, Timothy followed.

Mother, is your child ready to serve God?
Are you preparing that son or daughter with Scripture, learned by you both at church and practiced at home?
Are you leading that child to the Savior?
Are you leading that child to His Service? Or is he unmotivated, unequipped and undirected; is he unprepared to meet the spirit of this age?
What will your child say when the world, peer pressure, and the culture of Christlessness challenges his faith and drives home its message against Jesus with materialism, relativism and rationalization?

Can we talk?

If the truth be known, when a child is born there are at least two emotions - great joy (A CHILD IS BORN!)....and Oh MY! (NOW WHAT DO I DO?) As wonderful as being a mother is....it is just that scary to raise a child today. There are thousands of books from Dr. Spock to Dr. Ruth. We are bombarded with suggestions and authority from our own mothers to Oprah and Sally Jesse Raphael. What’s a mother to do?

Answer:
Dump the trends and fads.
Be a godly woman.
Get your priorities in order: SAVIOR...SCRIPTURE... SERVICE

Mother and Father are not honorary titles - they are working job descriptions. Having these priorities in place will never guarantee an easy time of the job, but it can turn your legacy into what was shown in a cartoon in the Saturday Evening Post - a young boy about five or six years old talking on the telephone, saying, "Mom is in the hospital, the twins and Roxie and Billie and Sally and the dog and me and Dad are all home alone."

Mothers (and Dads), don’t leave the mission to the preacher, Sunday School teacher or anyone when it comes to your precious children. A Spanish proverb says: An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. YOU lead them to the Savior; YOU teach them the Scripture; YOU prepare them for service. You be a mother on mission!

"You will simply call her, 'Mom.'"

A baby asked God, "They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?"
"Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you."
The child further inquired, "But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy."
God said, "Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy."
Again the child asked, "And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?"
God said, "Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak."
"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?"
God said, "Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray."
"Who will protect me?"
God said, "Your angel will defend you even if it means risking it's life."
"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore."
God said, "Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you."
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, "God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name."
"You will simply call her, 'Mom.'"

Mother's Day in United States

MOTHER"S DAY TRUTH

These Three Remain: A Little Truth for February: Part IV (Woman of Valor)

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Dads Are Important: A True Story of What Fathers Do

No More "Boys Will Be Boys": Is It Sibling Fighting or Bullying? | Parenting Advice

Poetry by DEXTER L. BOOTH

Love in the Time of Revolution

Listen, I know you are lonely.
I can see it in the way your hair curls down
over your forehead, the slump of your shoulders
as you bend to take a hit from the bong
you spent the weekend cleaning like a pistol.

And it takes the night being ravenous,
rejections at the bar,
and you being shitfaced to admit
through bloated eyes that you are human,
just wanting to be held
by a woman who loves you.

Believe me, nothing inside the body is ever quiet:
the heart whispers in its sleep, even
when the lips are closed. Blood chases itself
like a child down a labyrinth of veins,
like the water that recycles itself
through the lakes and marinas in Montana—

some processes can’t end. Even after love
the body keeps stretching, is filled with things
that move. My hairs stand on their own at the sight
of a moth, paddling circles around the foam
in a single unwashed bowl in the sink.
~
To love
you say
It will happen on its own,
like drops of rain making a map on the window
or a baby, suddenly aware
of its hands, exploring the freedom
of a fist.

Know that even as you read this you are envied
by the cholla, who, if it could think, would
believe that we can touch each other

without pain. I won’t lie—
you cut up the San Pedro, boiled it into a soup,
strained the needles from the meat
and called it medicine.
We drove for hours and I recalled
reading how in three hundred years
if it’s left untouched, the cactus will
finally show its bones.

We drank at noon,
the sun eyeballed us with suspicion,
knowing we have so much more choice
in how we rise and fall. I felt nothing
but jealousy for the falcon, that
talking spirit that would not
abandon the sky, committed four hours
to tracing its name on the open palm of blue
so someone would know it was there.

We do the same. I counted the plastic bottles
John collected along the trail as we set up camp. Things
the land could not take back, like regret.
~
Sometimes voice is not enough. Sometimes
a word falls from us like a boulder and rolls unnoticed

until it is dust. I must say I tried.

I felt nothing but
the fingers of the evening resting
on my cheeks, the needles catching
on my heel and staying
like the ghost of a childhood bog.

You left us in the circle
around the camp where the cacti danced
and died, shaking their skeletal knees
at the mountain.

What stories did they have to tell?

Nothing quite like your move to La Paz,
how in leaving you thought you would never see
Fedra again. How you loved her
without knowing her, and then she was gone.

That memory still moist
on your lips,
you met a friend of a friend during an uprising
and you found her in a city of 4,000—
you locked eyes. You kissed. You exchanged numbers
but never called her, that opportunity missed
like a train being swallowed
into a deep winter sunset.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

2013- Spring Commencement Congratulations !

President Bill Clinton to Speak at Commencement - News - The Hilltop - The Student Newspaper of Howard University

Guns At Home Pose A Risk For Suicidal Teens : Shots - Health News : NPR

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Why this Waste-Rev.M.D. Rogers

Mark it down: Whenever you give that which is most valuable in your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, some of your fellow Christians will consider it to be waste.

In the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 45, we are told that the Lord’s garments smelled of myrrh and aloes. Before Jesus was buried, Nicodemus placed myrrh and aloes on His body. And he used the same amount that was used for royal burials — a hundred pounds worth. By this act, Nicodemus testified that he believed Jesus to be a king.

Now think with me. In addition to the perfume that Mary poured upon Him, the Lord’s body was covered with a hundred pounds of fragrant spices. So when He rose from the dead a few days later, He was fragrant. And His fragrance could be smelled from afar.

Point: the resurrected Christ has a scent. He emits the everlasting fragrance of resurrection.

Now we cannot physically smell Christ today, but our spiritual senses can detect the fragrance of His presence among us.

The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. The sense of smell is the most delicate of all the human senses. By it, we receive impressions beyond our sight and hearing. Fragrance cannot be hidden. It’s pervasive. When released, the fragrant influence of Jesus Christ cannot be hidden.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
As A.B. Simpson once put it, “Preaching without spiritual aroma is like a rose without fragrance. We can only get the perfume by getting more of Christ.”

In Matt. 26:6–13 we hear the only sermon that Judas ever preached. After Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume, Judas gives a three-word protest:

“Why this waste?”
When Judas saw Mary’s worshipful act, he exploded with criticism, saying, “Why are you being so wasteful? You could have helped the poor with this small fortune!”

But Mary stepped out in faith. Her act of extravagant love was shameless, selfless, and risked both embarrassment and the sneers and jeers of harsh criticism.

But love compelled her.

However, her act was rudely interrupted by a mean-spirited complaint. Her token of exquisite devotion exposed her own heart and the heart of Judas as well as the other disciples who agreed with him.

Judas sought to cloak the real motive behind his complaint with pious rhetoric. It was a case of cold-heartedness judging warm-heartedness under the guise of being spiritual.

Unfortunately, Judas is not alone in engaging in this behavior.

There are few things that are as close to God’s heart as helping the dispossessed and oppressed. Read your Old Testament. It’s spilling over with God’s concern for their plight. Jesus Himself was a poor man all His life. The poor were His representatives, not His rivals. But as important as caring for the poor is, Jesus Christ Himself is even more important. He is more valuable than any ministry, no matter how good or noble.

It’s possible to worship the god of “ministry” in place of Christ.

Interestingly, the Lord’s death, which Mary highlighted by her anointing, would eventually solve the problem of poverty forever.

The contrast between Mary and Judas is dramatic. In Mary, we see the light of love. In Judas, we see the darkness of sin. Mary anointed Jesus for burial; Judas prepared Him for betrayal. Mary loved Christ in preparation for His death; Judas helped bring about His death.

I’m comforted to know that Jesus is an advocate to all who give Him the place of preeminence. He rises to the defense of every Mary.

While Mary was misunderstood and denigrated, she never justified, defended or explained herself. Though she only speaks once in the Gospels, the legacy of her life speaks volumes by her actions. For these reasons, Mary came closer to Jesus’ inner heart than anyone else.