While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, He was reclining at the table, and a woman came with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the vial and poured the perfume over His head.

What are some things that are precious to you? We give special attention to the things we value most. We maintain and clean our homes, place our valuable possessions where they won’t break, and care for the people who are closest to us. It is silly to think about someone taking delicate care of something worthless or spending money to preserve something of little value. We evaluate how we spend our money, time, and resources and use it on the things most important to us.

When this woman came to Jesus, she expressed how valuable Jesus was to her. He was more valuable than the most expensive thing she possessed. And she didn’t just hand this to Him as a gift to express her appreciation, she poured out this expensive perfume on Jesus, revealing Him as the object of her affection. To all those looking on at this moment, she was wasting something precious. In reality, she was surrendering her most valuable human possession to show how precious Jesus was to her. Is Jesus precious to you? When we think about all the things we invest our time and resources on, is Jesus the object of our affection and effort? It may seem silly to other people, but this woman understood that Jesus was more valuable than anything else. Are we doing the same?

• How does your life display that Jesus is precious to you?
• What are some of the things you have given up because He is precious to you? What makes that difficult?
• Pray and thank God for being worthy of all your affection. Ask Him to help you grow in your trust in Him.