04/06/2026
What if you prayed to know the motives of someone’s actions before speaking about their actions?
Now, when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the L***r, a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume, and she poured it on His head as He was reclining at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? For this perfume could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you bothering the woman? For she has done a good deed for Me. For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.”
Matthew 26:6–12 NASB2020
How often are we just like the disciples?
Becoming indignant and angry at others for their actions, saying things that feel justified with pure motives, but our anger is wrongfully placed because we did not understand the intention that person had.
How much different would things be if we didn’t get upset with other people for what they did, simply because we would’ve done something differently?
What would be the difference if we asked the Spirit of Jesus to help us understand why others do what they do, to truly try and understand them?
We must have love and truth; never let them depart from us. Too many Christians err on the side of not being confrontational, but Jesus Himself said that if you catch your brother in sin, you are supposed to go to them directly. But also, too many people—myself included—talk and say something justified in their own mind without first praying and asking if what they think they ought to say is what the Spirit wants them to say.
Jesus was one who would call Pharisees brutal vipers and whitewashed tombs, yet He said this woman has done good things and proclaimed that this story would be included in the gospel, because He knew her heart.
