My ladies’ Sunday School class is studying a book about different women who met Jesus. This coming week, we are going to look at the woman who washes Jesus’ feet in Luke 7:36-50.

We have already seen how Jesus was willing to talk to an outcast, the Samaritan woman. He showed great compassion on two widows: Peter’s mother-in-law and the widow of Nain.

As I studied this story about the lady who broke the expensive ointment over Jesus’ feet, kissing his feet, and washing his feet with her hair, there were many wonderful truths that I learned. Here are just some of them:

• Jesus is touchable. He is touchable by all, even those everyone else considers sinners.
  Luke 7:39 shows Simon the Pharisee’s response. It says, “Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.”
  Jesus did know what kind of woman touched Him, and He loved her and forgave her.
• Jesus can look past our past, no matter what it is, and forgive us.
  This is hard for humans to do. We remember how others have hurt us and how others have failed us. But Jesus, he does not remember us by our past. He remembers us by our future in Him. He sees us covered in His blood and forgiven. What a wonderful fact.

It is not easy for us to blot out a past, and to free ourselves from all prejudice resulting from our knowledge of that past. Yet that is exactly what the Lord does. And He does so, not unrighteously, but righteously. He knows the power of His own grace, and that it completely cancels the past, and gives its own beauty to the soul.” G. Campbell Morgan

• This lady is willing to do go to great lengths to express her love for Jesus. She knew she would be scorned by the Pharisees at the dinner. In the eyes of almost everyone watching, she wasted a very expensive bottle of perfume. The fact that she was willing to do anything to express her love for Jesus was convicting. Am I willing to do anything to express my love for Jesus?

This story in Luke 7 is different from the story told in the other gospels about the woman who anointed Jesus’ head with oil. Spurgeon says about these two stories:

It ought not to astonish you that there were two persons whose intense affection thus displayed itself; the astonishment should rather be that there were not two hundred who did so, . . . Loved as Jesus deserved to be, the marvel is that he was not oftener visited with these generous tokens of human love.” 

• This lady loved Jesus and served Him alone.
  Do I serve out of a sense of duty or do I serve because I love Him? She had one motive for her service.

She served Christ himself. It was neither service to Peter, nor James, nor John, nor yet to the poor or sick of the city, but to the Master himself; and, depend upon it, when our love is in active exercise, our piety will be immediately towards Christ — we shall sing to him, pray to him, teach for him, preach for him, live to him.” (Spurgeon)

• Jesus sees us for who we really are, not for how others see us.
  Simon the Pharisee in his mind judges the woman. He thinks Jesus doesn’t know who this woman was. Look at verse 39:
  “Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.”
  But Jesus knows his thoughts and says to him basically, “Do you really see this woman?” Look at verses 44- 46:
  “ And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.  Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.  David Guzik says it this way:

Do you see this woman? Simon the Pharisee thought that Jesus was the one who could not see her. His thought was, “Jesus, don’t you see this shameful woman associating so closely to You?” Jesus turned the thought around on Simon, saying, “Do you see this woman? Simon, do you see her love, her repentance, her devotion? That’s what I see.”

• This lady realized she had been forgiven much so she gave much. Jesus tells the Pharisee this in verse 47:
  “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.”
  It made me think, “Do I realize how much Jesus has forgiven me? Do I love Him as much as He has forgiven me? I know I do not, but I want to!

Forgiveness is ready from God; there is no hesitation or shortage on His part. Our part is to come with humility and loving submission to Jesus, and to receive the forgiveness He offers by faith. David Guzik

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I am studying a book for my ladies Sunday School class about women who met the Master (Jesus).

I have found it a very interesting study. This past week, I studied two different ladies: Peter’s mother-in-law and the Widow of Nain.

Whenever you study a subject in depth, you learn deeper meanings than what you would learn if it was just looked at superficially. The obvious comfort we can take from these two stories is that God cares for the hurting. He cares for widows. We see how He was moved with compassion in Luke 7 when He sees the widow accompanying her deceased son to his grave.

Luke 7:13: And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

Chuck Smith in his commentary said:

In the Greek there is no word that is more expressive of feeling sympathy than the word used here, translated compassion. And it is used many times of Jesus. It’s the strongest Greek word that expresses the deepest kind of feeling towards a person.

In my adult ladies Sunday School class, this is a big comfort for many of the ladies as they are widows. They go through times of loneliness and hurt and need to know that Jesus has compassion on them. But there are other lessons we can learn from these passages when we meditate and dig deeper.

As I studied this passage, I saw an application that could be made about Jesus telling the dead son to “Arise.”

Spiritually we are dead in our sins. He looks at our spiritual deadness with great compassion. So great that He paid the ultimate penalty and died for us! He looks at us, and calls on us to “Arise!”

Just like the young man obeyed the voice of the Master and sat up, we need to “Arise.”

We can accept what Christ did for us and turn from spiritual death to spiritual life. We then need to speak like the young man did. Speak and share with others what God has done for us!  When others saw this great miracle, great fear fell up on them and they glorified God (verse 16).

Our changed lives should also bring glory to God!

In Luke 4, we read of Peter’s mother-in-law being healed by Jesus. Luke 4:39 says, “And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.”

William MacDonald made the application to all believers that her immediate service was “a fitting expression of gratitude for what the Savior had done for her. We should imitate her, whenever we are healed, by serving Him with renewed dedication and vigor.”

J. R. Miller said, “Every sick person who is restored, whether in an ordinary or extraordinary way, should hasten to consecrate to the service of God the life that is given back.”

As a mom, I took encouragement in the quote by J. R. Miller as he made the application of how Peter’s mother-in-law showed her love to her Savior by ministering to His material needs. He said,

True ministry to Christ is doing first of all and well one’s daily duties.

As I go about washing the dishes and doing laundry, I can do it to glorify God. What do you do daily that you can determine to do it in such a way as to bring glory to God?

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I had one of those transformative moments in my life this past week.

Not as transformative as some of you have had. It was one of those moments where I could see God’s protective hands around me, yet the event also changed some of my husband and my plans.

Let me tell you the story. My husband and I are planners. We save our money; and because my husband has financial goals that he has carried out, we have never been in want. We never have lived luxuriously, yet our needs and most of our wants  have been provided. One way we do that is by trying not to be in debt. We buy with cash used, older cars with lower miles and run them into the ground. We pay our credit cards off every month. When we had a  mortgage, we paid extra every month so that we could pay down our mortgage quickly. (We now live in a church house that is not our own.)

When we last needed a newer minivan, we prayed specifically for the van we wanted. We wanted a Honda Odyssey EX 2006 or newer as they all came with 8 seats. Since we had 7 people in our family, we thought it would be nice to have an extra seat for someone else to ride with us. If my husband wasn’t going on an activity due to work, we could take a couple of friends.

We told a friend what we were looking for, and that friend just “happened” to overhear a woman saying she had to get rid of her van as she couldn’t drive it, her husband had abandoned her by going back to China, and the funds would give her some money to live on. He told us, and we bought the van. It was a 2006 Honda Odyssey EX. We were able to get what she would have gotten if she traded it in to CarMax, and we helped her set up a bank account that she could use for her needs. It was such a neat answer to prayer, and a wonderful way of how God cares about those little details in our life.

We had hopes that the van would  make it to at least 200,000 miles. It was running great! And then I got rear-ended this week on the highway. I was stopped, but when I got hit, I ended up bumping the person in front of me. We are still in the process of getting an adjuster to look at it, taking it to a body shop for a quote, and getting medical treatment for a sore neck.

In all the hassle of dealing with my van, I would at times get very emotional. The car is a 2006 van with 126,000 miles. Probably, in the adjuster’s eyes, it will not be worth that much; but in our eyes it was worth a lot. It meant not having to put money into a new vehicle for several years.

But as I thought more, I had to acknowledge that God knows best. He is in charge. I could look at all the positives:

• My kids were not with me in the car.
• The police came quickly and as I was in the slow lane, we were easily moved off of the local highway.
• The other cars involved were very kind and patient.
• All parties agreed to the sequence of events, and the accident was shown to be no fault of my driving.
• My car was still drivable so I could get it home — and my groceries — so my husband could help me deal with the details.
• I was not more seriously hurt. Two ladders came off of the top of the van that hit me. One of them ended up in front of my car, and the other one was behind my car. I was so thankful they did not go through my rear window.
• I have good friends that would help if I needed it.
• My children are old enough to help make dinner and wash dishes when I didn’t feel like it.
• My husband was supportive of my needs.

There were so many good things I could dwell on. But I was still thinking thoughts like,

• “We are going to have to sink money into a newer car, and we have already had so many expenses in the past couple of months!”
• “When will I go grocery shopping now? I am so busy this week!”
• “Will I feel good enough to go to one of my daughter’s last basketball games?”

In the past, I have thought I was a flexible person. With five kids, you just have to be flexible. You can have your day planned out, but with five kids, it is very likely that it never will go exactly like you planned. So you just “roll” with it. I feel like I do that a lot. However, do I always just “roll” with God’s plan? Obviously, He allowed this to happen. It’s no surprise to Him that we may need to get a new vehicle if the adjuster decides it’s too much to fix our van.

So as I thought about rolling with God’s plan, about being flexible, I thought, “What is a good word for being flexible?” The word “malleable” came to mind.

Here are some definitions of malleable:

• capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer or by the pressure of rollers
• capable of being altered or controlled by outside forces or influences
• capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out

When I look at these definitions, I do want God to shape me. However, I don’t want Him to have to shape me like how metal would be shaped. A metal worker has to use a hammer to beat the metal into the correct shape, or he has to apply heavy pressure with rollers to the metal to flatten it. God could shape me in those ways if I resist His shaping in other ways. I would much prefer to be molded like clay that is soft.

I want to be soft, pliable clay that God lovingly shapes with soft, gentle turns while giving me His living water as he turns and molds me.

God often describes Himself as the potter and His people as the clay. We see several instances in His Word:

• Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? Isaiah 45:9
• Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? Isaiah 29:16
• The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. Jeremiah 18:1-6
• But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Isiah 64:8
• Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? Romans 9:20-21

As I contemplated God being my potter, I wondered, “Am I clay that He can work with to shape as He sees fit? Or will He see the clay as worthless, unable to be shaped or molded?”

I want to be clay that is malleable, flexible, and pliable in His hands. If He says, “It’s time to get a new car,” then who am I to say otherwise? He knows what is best! He might let the body shop say it isn’t as expensive as we think it might be, and then we can keep it. It doesn’t matter what He says; our response is what matters.

I did not choose a word of the year this year. If I had to pick a word, I would pick MALLEABLE to be my word of the year for 2019. I want to be pliable, moldable, capable of being shaped by my Potter this year.

Are you malleable?

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I have been studying the interactions between Jesus and the women that He met.

The  past couple of weeks, I have been studying the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. As I read and meditate on the passage, I find that there are so many lessons I can learn as I try to reach people around me for the kingdom of God.

Here are just a few of the lessons that I have learned from the example of Jesus and how He reached the Samaritan woman:

1. Talk to the unlovely or those who are living lifestyles that are contrary to God’s teaching.

   This Samaritan woman was drawing water at the hottest part of the day. No one went to the well at that time. She must have wanted to avoid any of the other  women. Because of her immorality, she was probably shunned by many people. But not Jesus. He knew she had a need, and He purposely put Himself in a place where He could meet her. We see this in verse 4 when it says, “And he must needs go through Samaria.”

2. Talk about something they can understand or that interests them and then turn the conversation to the spiritual.

   Jesus starts talking about water, which made sense since the lady was coming to draw water. He grabs the woman’s attention by saying, “Give me to drink.” Then He says, “ If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” And later, “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

   He turned the conversation from physical water to spiritual, everlasting water which was a metaphor for everlasting life.

3. Share the Gospel whenever you have the chance. I don’t have to wait until I have a relationship with them.

   Many people talk about lifestyle evangelism. This is the idea that I can  win others to Christ just by showing others with my life that I am different. Or people also talk about having to have a relationship with someone before you can witness to them. However, we see how Jesus meets this stranger, and almost immediately, He is witnessing to her.

4. Show them their need of a Savior by convicting them of their sin.

   “Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

   Before anyone gets saved, they must realize they are lost. In a non-abrasive way, we can bring up the fact that they are a sinner.

5. Don’t get sidetracked by extemporaneous debates.

   She tries this when she says, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus answers her accusation and uses it to share more gospel with her!

6. Be more concerned about the spiritual welfare of people than my physical needs (or even their physical needs!).

   The disciples came back from buying food and said unto Jesus, “In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.” His answer to them was,”But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” (v. 32) and “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” (v. 34)

   Do I even see the spiritual needs around me as I rush about my daily chores of things that need to be done? Do I have spiritual eyes? Am I more concerned about doing a soup kitchen or somehow helping someone’s physical needs that I fail to share the most important answer to the biggest need that they have: their need for salvation.

   William MacDonald says in his commentary, “The Lord Jesus had found food and support in winning worshipers to His Father. Compared to this joy, physical nourishment was of little importance to Him. We get what we go after in life. The disciples were interested in food. They went into the village to get food. They came back with it. The Lord was interested in souls. He was interested in saving men and women from sin and giving them the water of everlasting life. He, too, found what He went after. What are we interested in?”

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What a busy week! I have had my parents here for 3 weeks and my sister was here for 2 weeks. It has been a lot of fun!

In all the fun, I also pulled a muscle/pinched a nerve in my upper back. I have not been in that much pain for a long time. It is starting to ease up, which I am thankful for; but it did hamper my productiveness this past week.

As I shared in last week’s post about setting Biblical goals, this year I am focusing on all that I have to teach in my Bible devotional time. I teach an adult ladies Sunday school and need to prepare for a ladies book study that we do in the summer. I also periodically teach the Wednesday night children’s lesson and I teach Bible for our tiny school. I need to prepare the Wednesday night children’s program for the summer.

So with all this busyness, I did not have a very thoughtful post written for today. However, it has been a long time since I have shared favorite thoughtful posts that have linked up to this party. As I went through the last month and a half of posts that have linked up to this party, I really enjoyed reading the posts that had to do with goals or posts that could be goals.

If you are still thinking about setting goals for 2019 or already need encouragement to keep your goals, you may enjoy looking at a few of the following posts:

Studying God’s Word/Goals/Word of the Year Posts:

1. The New Has Come! Delight in the Word Challenge – January 2019 from JoDitt Designs
2. Another Year is Dawning from Training Hearts at Home
3. Goal-Setting for Christians – How to Spark your New Year Goals from Sun Sparkle Shine
4. 28 Ways to Improve Your Quiet Time from Soul Survival
5. Why Read through the Bible in 2019? from Soul Survival
6. God Will See to Our Need from Soul Refreshed Journey
7. What Are Your Goals & Priorities for 2019? from Soul Survival
8. Giving Thanks to God all Year Long from Sun Sparkle Shine
9. Cultivating a Peaceful Heart from Soul Refreshed Journey
10. Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions For Mom from Confessions of Parenting

The thoughtful topics for your posts could be related to but not limited to the following topics:

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