A Humble Sort of Love

“When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” Luke 7:37-38 NIV

I have read these verses before. I had admired the woman for giving Jesus everything, but only today, in reading this piece of Scripture, did I notice and come to admire the way she did it.
      It says that “she stood behind him at his feet” (v.38). She wasn’t in front of Him where He could see her. She was BEHIND Him.
      We need to learn from this woman’s example. When we do things against God’s will or displease Him, we often do good deeds for God to see. We hope that it will be enough for Him to look at us without seeing our previous shameful action. This woman, however, had the right heart. She had “lived a sinful life” (v.37), but she wasn’t looking for Jesus to look past that and praise and bless her. She was simply humbling herself and giving Him her all out of love.
      It didn’t matter if He knew who she was (if He knew who was glorifying Him). All that mattered to her is that she knew who HE was.
      She gave Him her best because He deserves it. She wasn’t thinking about what she could get in return. The most beautiful part is, the woman wasn’t worthy of Jesus’ attention and affection, yet in her extremely humble position, He lifted her up to a point where He considered her so.
      Let’s learn from her example and give to God without motive. We shouldn’t aim for Him to know us a certain way, because He already knows us the most beautiful way possible: as His children. Instead, let’s do things because we know Him and all that He is worth.
      We need to change our mindset so that we stop desiring to be seen when we do good deeds. There is no doubt He sees us, but it means more to Him when that is not our motive. We return His love (the way He gives it to us) when we simply do things out of love and not out of hope for any sort of gain. These acts glorify Him most.
      If we are doing good deeds in order to get praise or recognition (to receive our treasure stored up in heaven), then we aren’t doing them out of love. We haven’t truly humbled ourselves quite yet (or at least, didn’t in that instance) and we don’t fully know what He’s worth (or at least, not in that moment).
      When we are fully aware of how much He is worth, everything else pales in comparison. He is all we can think about and showing Him that we adore Him is how we want to live.
      I want to get to a point where I consistently humble myself the way the woman from this piece of Scripture did, not because I want Him to love me more, but because I want to show Him more often that I truly love Him.