There

have been a few times when our family received very generous gifts.

Those were times of financial need for us, and they were more

appreciated than I could ever say. But, honestly, it took me a while

to accept such generosity. Personal pride got in the way and made me

feel guilty about accepting those gifts. But the bottom line was

always that the people who felt led to give didn’t do it out of

guilt or duty. They did it because they loved our family and knew

that God had blessed them to be a blessing to others.

We

know that the cost of ­discipleship—following Jesus—involves

relying on God and following his calling in our lives. The people who

blessed our family were doing just that. The woman in today’s story

gave extravagantly to Jesus with no thought about her own needs or

agenda. She simply did what she was called to do.

Some

of the people who saw this asked why she would do such a thing. That

can happen when a person follows God’s leading and shows

generosity.

Surely

there were other people more needy than our family when we received

generous gifts. Surely the money spent on the jar of perfume for

Jesus could have helped people in need. But Jesus was the one whom

the woman was called to bless at that time. She followed God’s

leading in her that day.

What

is God leading you to do? Whom is he calling you to bless today?