Mark 14:3-9
In 2000, my husband and I graduated from Bible college, got married just a few months later, and started working as fulltime staff at a church only one day after returning from our honeymoon. Filled with all those white-picket-fence dreams of newlyweds, we thought we would spend the rest of our days serving God in the fulltime ministry. However, after less than two years, God drastically changed our course. He sent us back to David’s hometown on the other side of the country. While we had to get secular jobs and continued to serve as laypeople in David’s home church, we considered this a minor setback, as we avidly searched for a position in fulltime church work.
For many years, God kept closing every possible door to us going back out into the ministry. We battled much discouragement, not understanding why God would keep us from serving Him fulltime when we felt we had prepared ourselves. Why would He not give us a place to serve when we were so willing and equipped?
Several years passed. We bought a house and started our family. David decided to pursue a career in law enforcement. He said to me one day, “I’m not going to look anymore. I’m just going to be happy providing for my family and serving as a layman in the church. If God needs me for more, He knows where to find me.”
It took me several years longer to share my husband’s feelings on this. I kept thinking, “Why would God let us waste so much time going to Bible college if He didn’t intend for us to use what we learned?” In one of my low moments, David said to me, “If Bible college was just so that you and I could find each other, I can be completely happy with that. I know it was God’s will for me to go. I know it was God’s will to marry you. It was NOT a waste!”
Eight years after we left the fulltime ministry, I was asked to work on staff at our church. At first, I thought how unfair it was to my husband, me in the fulltime ministry while he was working a secular job! I felt bad for him and expressed this to him. He said, “Tracie, you realize that my job enables you to do this. I have a part in the ministry if I can be the provider so you are able to serve in the ministry.” Oh, those super spiritual husbands!
As time passed, my job evolved from just a receptionist and secretary to many other duties. I was able to help and counsel young, college-aged ladies. I had the opportunity to start and build a ladies Sunday School class. Then, I was given the tools to start and still to manage Christian Ladies Fellowship. I am able to use a skill that I enjoy––writing––on almost a daily basis for the sake of the ministry.
David expresses his admiration of my ministry work. He fully supports my efforts and works long, hard hours to provide for our family. He is faithful layman in our church who serves where he can when he can. Recently, my teenage son had to write a paper for his literature class. The assignment was to write about someone who had made a difference in his life. He wrote about his dad. When his teacher shared it with me, I read it and cried. Then, David read it and cried. My son wrote many wonderful things, but these words stuck with me the most: “He taught me to love Christ with all my heart. He taught me that Jesus should always be the center of my life,…”
This was a stark reminder of how sometimes what we may think is a waste is useful in God’s eyes. Those years of Bible college were meant to bring two people together because God wanted them to be the parents of two special kids who needed to be raised by only them. He had a little boy who He planned for me to be his mother and for David to be his father and especially, his hero.
Two thousand years ago, a unnamed woman had a precious alabaster box of ointment of spikenard. Some speculate that this box of ointment would have cost nearly a year’s worth of wages in that time. This box was made of the same material used in building Solomon’s temple. It was filled with spikenard, also mentioned in the book of Song of Solomon as a symbol of great love, the best of the best.
This woman brought the best of what she had, perhaps her most valuable possession, to Jesus. There, she broke the box and poured the ointment over the Master’s head. Those who witnessed this objected to the wastefulness of this woman. They loudly objected, saying she should have sold it to feed the poor instead of anointing Jesus. The Bible says they murmured against her.
Then, Jesus told them to leave her alone. He considered it a worthy investment and not at all wasteful. Jesus declared that wherever the Gospel was preached, this woman’s act of total devotion would be shared as a memorial to her.
What man thinks is a waste can be what God considers a worthy investment. He sees our faithfulness, even when we cannot understand what He is doing or see what the future holds, as worthy. Our legacy is built when we give our hearts and lives to Him to use as He will. Regardless if we walk an unfamiliar road or cannot see the big picture quite yet, He is always worthy of our best.
Faithfulness is never a waste but a worthy investment. Our God Who gave His Son for our redemption deserves our faith, our love, and our best. Following God’s will is NEVER a waste!
by Tracie S. Burns