Devotionals

Seize the Moment

by Antje Hill
06/12/17
Free to Share
Author requests article critique

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

Seize the Moment

I sat reading the book of Mark, a passage I was so familiar with, or so I thought.  But this morning God took a few verses and let me see something different.  The passage was telling how Jesus was “in the home of Simon, the leper”. Simon had moved out of his home at one point in his life. He had been afflicted with leprosy. Lepers lived on the outskirts of the city, so as not to contaminate others.  They had to shout “Unclean, Unclean!” if anyone approached them. Can you imagine being away from family and friends, many times permanently, because of this condition?  Can you imagine going home again because this man, Jesus, healed him? The timing mattered. Simon had already lost too much time away from loved ones.

As Jesus and friends were gathered there, a woman took a flask of expensive oil, broke the bottle and anointed Jesus. Some of the onlookers criticized her sharply, saying she could have sold the oil and given the money to the poor. But Jesus came to her defense; “Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me.” (Mark 14:6 NKJV)  He told them the poor would be with them always, but He would not, speaking of His crucifixion. She had followed her heart.  Now, in 2017, her action still speaks of the importance of seizing the moment. An old song tells us “Yesterday’s gone, tomorrow may never come, but we have this moment today.”

Have you felt a nudge to say or do something for someone?  It could make a difference in their life or their eternity?  Now is the time.

Antje is a columnist for Parents & Kids Magazine.  She and her husband, Richard, spend time between Mississippi and Michigan.