What have you got to offer?

This morning in church the pastor was teaching from John 12.

3Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, 5Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 7Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. 8For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

He talked of how great a sacrifice of worship this was from her. That it seemed insurmountable considering how costly the oil was. He likened it's worth to about $40,ooo. Whether or not that is completely accurate is irrelevant. The others present must have been confused - knowing how much money that oil could have been traded for. Then the pastor asked one of those rhetorical questions that pastors often ask from the pulpit with the intention of making you think. "What do you have to offer as a sacrifice worship to the Lord? What do you have of great value that you could simply lay at His feet and surrender to Him?"

All I could think of to answer within myself was : My children. Truly, as a mother, all I have to offer to my Lord in this life is my kids. I do not manage the finances of my home - nor do I have the luxury at present of a lot of time to spend in "ministry". What I do have however is a high-calling to raise children who fear Him, love Him, and serve Him. I heard it said once,"The only thing you can take with you to heaven is your kids". How utterly true that is. The investment of training up children in the way they should go is an investment with eternal returns.

Be blessed and encouraged today mothers.