Archive for the ‘Such Devoted Sisters’ Category

Guest Post: Mary and Martha

December 17, 2011
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Today, I would like to introduce you to guest blogger Zeke Lam. Zeke is the founder of SUBMISSION Ministries—a ministry devoted to seeing lost souls encounter God and live lives fully surrendered to the risen Christ. Zeke reminds us that the power of the stories about Jesus and women touches men’s lives too!

Scattered throughout the New Testament Gospel books are several interesting and powerful interactions between Jesus and women. In each case, an intriguing lesson is brought to light for the individual and very applicable to our present day. From the story of the widow and her two mites in Luke 21 to the lady touching the hem of Jesus’ garment in Luke 8, to the woman at the well in John 4, each case provides valuable truths.

While each are critical and essential depending on the season of life a person is currently facing, the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42 has offered significant help at various times in my life. Hosting Jesus was a privilege indeed. Mary sat at the feet and Jesus and worshipped while Martha was busy with much serving. This busyness became a distraction in her life from her chance to be at the feet of Jesus. (Read More)

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One Woman’s Passion for Jesus

November 12, 2011
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While my husband and I lived on the West Coast back in the 1990s, I met a sister at our church who soon became one of my closest friends. Her love for Jesus compelled her to minister to hurting women in ways I had never observed before. She possessed an incredible compassion for those who suffer from deep emotional pain, and she taught me about the path to God’s healing for broken hearts. She was never content to be superficial with people. She always wanted to serve in ways that mattered deeply to others.

In our church tradition, her manner of service was often considered unorthodox. She advocated for women whom others labeled odd, needy, weak, even immoral. She told good churchgoing folks facts they didn’t want to hear.

Fellow Christians knew nothing of her own pain-filled past nor of the soaring liberation from bondage she had experienced with God. They didn’t perceive people and issues the way she did, and they didn’t understand her emotional intensity. Therefore, they criticized her and marginalized her ministry. She never let them know, but every negative, suspicious comment wounded her deeply. (Read More)

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An Outrageously Extravagant Gift for Jesus

September 14, 2011
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Welcome to the first entry of The Gentle Savior blog!
About once a week I’ll be posting reflections and musings here about the interactions between Jesus and women described in the Gospels. I hope this blog will be a place where we can ask questions of each other and of scripture. I won’t pretend to know and understand everything about God or about difficult issues raised in the Bible. We’ll just be honest about our questions and try to help each other understand Jesus a little better.

Lynn Bell

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While [Jesus] was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. (Mark 14:3-5)

Why in the world would a woman do something like this?  What would compel you to take a year’s worth of earnings, buy a ridiculously expensive bottle of perfume, and then pour out its entire contents on one person?

To some of the men in the room, this act was an unfathomable mystery. All they could perceive was the frittering away of valuable resources by an irrational female. Anointing is one thing, but did she have to break the jar and use it all?

(Read More)

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