abundance or scarcity

Opening Prayer:  Help my life, Lord Jesus, be nothing more than a grateful response to your Divine Love.  Amen.

Scripture: John 12:1-8

Journal: Where do you see yourself in this story?  What does it stir up within you?  What is the main difference between Mary and Judas?  Are you operating more out of abundance or scarcity these days?  Why?

Reflection: When we have been captured by the abundance of Divine Love, we have no choice but to offer abundance in return.  What else can we do?  We have been so overcome and overwhelmed that the only possible response is overflow.  It is the way we were made.  If we live out of abundance, we will offer abundance.  If we live out of scarcity, all we can offer is scarcity. 

Mary is a prime example.  She is so overwhelmed and overcome by the love of Jesus that her heart overflows with a grand and extravagant gesture of uninhibited love in return.  That’s the way love works.  “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) Thus, she takes the treasured contents of her alabaster jar and pours it all out on the feet of Jesus.

Judas, on the other hand, is operating out of the scarcity of self.  Therefore, all he has to offer is criticism.  He does not understand the heart that has been seized by the power of the Great Affection.  Thus, his heart is a mass of fear, anxiety, and insecurity.  That’s what pours out.  His life has become nothing more than a desperate grasping for what he cannot ultimately reach.  It’s is quite a contrast: abundance or scarcity.

What about you?  Where do you see yourself in this story?  Which person best describes your life these days?  Are you living out of the abundance of God’s unfailing love, or out of the scarcity of your own limited resources?  And if you are not sure, just take a look at what’s overflowing from your life; that will give you a pretty good indication. 

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Lord Jesus, help me to live this day out of your abundance, rather than out of my own scarcity.  Amen.