{"id":11252,"date":"2017-07-25T00:10:15","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T07:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=11252"},"modified":"2017-07-25T00:10:15","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T07:10:15","slug":"july-25-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/07\/25\/july-25-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"July 25, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cThen Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon\u2019s son, who would betray Him, said, \u2018Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?\u2019 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 John 12:3-6\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Motives<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s troubling to admit to myself that I have a heart like Judas. I often have the right answers with a hard, judgmental heart. A hard, judgmental heart is always selfish, hypocritical, and missing the point. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My natural tendency is that of a thief as well, only I, too, justify it. I judge my husband when he spends money freely. I think: \u201cThat money would have been better spent feeding the poor. By \u2018the poor,\u2019 I mean me. I have been eyeing something that I want, but now I won\u2019t be able to have it, because my husband bought something else.\u201d With this line of reasoning, I then become bitter. If I do not check this thought process with the Lord, a root of genuine hatred starts to take root. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cFor the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows\u201d<\/em> (1 Timothy 6:10).<\/span><\/p>\n

The first part in healing our greed is to realize where our motives lie. Judas had an answer that sounded righteous, but his motive was greed. His greed clouded his ability to see the more important issue of the moment. I often come up with what sounds like a justified answer, too, so how can we determine when we are wrong? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, if I am motivated by greed, then my heart will be hard. If my motive is pure, my heart stays soft and I am able to speak to him in love. Is my love set on money? Or is my love set on my husband? If my love is for money, then I become my husband\u2019s enemy. But if my love is for my husband, then my concern for handling our finances is about helping and cheering him on. One motive will bring us together. The other will tear us apart. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDear Father, please show us our motives this day, and if they have strayed from You, reset them on loving and serving You with all You have entrusted to our care. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThen Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-2Vu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}