One of the greatest enemies of God’s love is pride. Pride puts the concerns of others over the concerns of God and can keep us from experiencing the love of God. Putting down pride opens the door for the love of God to be experienced in spite of what others might think.

In Luke chapter 7, beginning at verse 36 is the story of when Jesus was invited to the house of Simon the Pharisee for dinner. At the dinner a woman known to be in sin from the city came in with an alabaster jar of oil and began to weep and cry. Now it doesn’t say why she’s crying except that her sins were many. She saw something in Jesus that said that she would be loved. In spite of what everyone else thought, she got down on the floor and began washing the feet of Jesus with her tears. She then took her hair and began to dry His feet. As she washed His feet, Simon the Pharisee objected and said to himself; "This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."

The thing that I find interesting about this is that she was willing to get down on the floor to show her love for Jesus while Simon hadn’t even lifted a finger to express his care for Jesus. She wasn’t concerned about what religious people thought. All she was concerned about was what Jesus thought. His love goes past the issue of pride and can only truly be experienced when a person is ready to “get down on the floor” and love Jesus, in spite of what others think.

Now Simon the Pharisee was watching all this and he began to wonder why Jesus would let a woman like this touch Him. So Jesus told him a parable about two men who owed money. One owed a little, and one owed a lot, yet their creditor forgave each of them of their debt. Jesus asked Simon, “Which one will love the more?” Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more. . . " Jesus went on to say that from the moment He entered Simon’s house, Simon had not greeted Him with a kiss nor had he offered to wash His feet or anoint His head with oil. And yet here’s a woman of the world, someone who’s been in sin, who has not stopped washing His feet or kissing them.

The difference between the woman and Simon was how they loved. She abandoned every concern about what others might think for the opportunity to express her love to Jesus. I believe that if we all would abandon our concerns of what others might, we would experience a greater depth of God’s love in our lives.

Jesus said in Matthew 10:39 "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” This woman learned that lesson. She gave up all concerns of herself for the privilege of loving and serving Jesus. This week lets pray about losing all self-concerns so that we can experience the love of God in a greater and deeper way.

In Jesus Name
Pastor Dan