***Listen To Audio Version: Never Too Much Audio 568
Today’s Devotional Scripture: Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. - John 12: 1-3 KJV
36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.
37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
- Luke 7:36-38, 50 KJV
The Message For Today (June 11, 2026):
***Listen To Audio Version: Never Too Much Audio 568
So often, we’re given a prescription about how to praise. We’re given a play-by-play on how to worship God. But what if worship is meant to be childlike and exuberant and full of joy? What if worship is meant to be a personal, not private, personal engagement? What if your praise is meant to be as raw and as open and as uncomfortable for people as possible?
Not uncomfortable because you are intentionally trying to discomfort others, but uncomfortable because of the sincerity and the vulnerability and the openness of your praise.
Too often, we limit our praise.
We censor our worship. We make it where it is acceptable before others. We make it where it is not too uncomfortable, too distinctly weird, giving a feeling of weirdness to others. And we do that so that we don’t go too deep. We control ourselves before others. We give a cursory praise, we give the Lord glory, and then we go on about it.
But there are times when, regardless of who’s watching and regardless of what your flesh may feel, that your praise reaches a place that nobody can deny is authentic, it is real, and it is holy. It is reverent.
In both these instances in scripture, in Luke 7:36 -38, and 50 in the King James Version, and then John 12:1-3 in the King James Version, we see examples of anointing that make others uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that those around them either outwardly chastised or inwardly chastised. In the Book of John, it was outwardly chastised.
When the spikenard was poured on the feet of Jesus, it was a disciple of Jesus who decided to make note of it. Judas Iscariot decided in that moment to remark on how the money could have been used for the poor. But Jesus knew that Judas Iscariot was a thief and that he didn’t care about the poor as much as he cared about access to what that represented.
That oil that was poured on the feet of Jesus by Mary cost a year’s salary.
A year of a life represented on the feet of Jesus.
A year of working, a year’s wages.
Not used for food, not used for clothing, but used for oil to cover the feet of Jesus. That is the essential juxtaposition we have: her worship was real. It was open, it was expensive, and it was remarked on by those who were not her, those outside of her, that she could have used that oil, that anointing, those resources, for something else.
In the second instance in scripture, we see that the chastisement is not external. When you read further in the scripture, in Luke 7, and you start at verse 39 in the King James Version, you see that even though there was no word spoken, but the moment that she began to wipe the feet of Jesus with the oil, in verse 39, it states:
39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
So in the mind of the Pharisee, within his heart, within himself, he didn’t say it out loud, but within himself said,
There’s no way he must be a prophet. He must not know, he must not be a legitimate man of God, because why would he allow a sinner to touch his feet? Why would he allow a woman who is a sinner to touch him?
The thought that because of her sin that she was unworthy to actually worship at the feet of Jesus, to use her hair to anoint, to wipe the tears and the oil from his feet, and the thought that she was doing too much in her worship is so unusual to you and to me. But to people who judge the believer for our worship, judge the believer for our standards, judge the believer because of our love and the way that we honor our God, it does seem like too much.
It doesn’t make sense.
Why go through all the trouble? Why even operate that way? It’s not like you’re perfect. We are often, yes, just that the worship that we’re doing may be too much because we’re human. We make mistakes. Why are we worshiping so prolifically as if we’re perfect or if we’re above board? And the natural man cannot understand that worship is not predicated on our goodness. Worship is in spite of our goodness and the lack thereof.
Worship to God is never too much. Whether we are outwardly pouring on the Lord all that we have or whether we are weeping from a moment of healing and desiring to be healed like the woman in the book of Luke, we all have that place where worship does not become a religious thing. It goes beyond just a saying.
It goes beyond just appearances.
It goes to the depths of our soul, and it is poured out in a way that it reaches heaven. It goes before the throne of God. And we are then, as we worship, as we pour out, as we cry out to God, we are tapping in, in a way where Jeremiah 33:3 shows us that when we worship the Lord and we call on him, calling out on him, that he will answer. It says in Jeremiah 33:3 in the King James Version:
3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. - Jeremiah 33:3 KJV
So not only will He answer us, He will show us great and mighty things that we have not considered. This is what God says to Jeremiah in chapter 33.
We all have an assignment to give God what He gave us. In worship and in praise. In obedience to God and the work of our hands. For some of us, sacrificing our bodies for our babies, nourishing our children, this is what God gave us. But He gave it to us for the working of the kingdom, for miracle signs and wonders, for pouring out on the next generation, for blessing the woman who needs our testimony.
He didn’t just give us our deliverance for us; He gave it to us that we could give to someone else the testimony that will help them overcome. By the blood of the Lamb and the words of our testimony, we have this assignment to bless God.
And He’s placed this treasure in us that we may edify Him with our very lives, that we are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That we lift Him up above the appearance of success, above the appearance of us having it all together. Above appearances, above concerns with those around us, we are lifting up the Lord.
And we see it finally with King David after he brings the glory into the City of David in 2 Samuel 5 and chapter 6. After he wins and he’s victorious over the Philistines in chapter 5, in chapter 6, he immediately gathers the men of war and he goes to retrieve the glory. And the first time he fails to do it, and Uzzah passes away because he touched the glory, the Ark of the Covenant, because it shook. And the Lord was incensed and immediately struck Uzzah right there. Struck him dead.
So 90 days later, when David went back to get the glory out of the house of Obed Edom in chapter 6, this was a long journey. This was the entire battle after being crowned king in 2 Samuel 5, and then in 2 Samuel 6, it was essentially the restoration of the Ark of the Covenant to the city of David. There was much to be joyous about.
But specifically in 2 Samuel 6, we see that the journey of bringing the Ark into the city of David was not easy. It wasn’t easy. It took sacrifices every six paces. In 2 Samuel 6:12, it states:
12 And it was told king David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness.
13 And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings.
14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.
15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. - 2 Samuel 6:12 KJV
In this time of celebration, David was not concerned about his kingly robes. He was not concerned about the crown that God had just blessed him with in 2 Samuel 5. No. He was, in this instance, more concerned with the fact that the glory had returned to the house of David, to the city of David, which then, in 2 Samuel 7, was blessed to become the house of David according to the Ark of the Covenant and the Davidic covenant given in 2 Samuel 7.
So these three chapters, 2 Samuel 5, 6, and 7, show the entire arc of being crowned king, fighting to keep that crown against the Philistines, gathering the men of war to bring the Ark of the Covenant back into the city of David, and then upon having the Ark of the Covenant in the city of David, being granted the Davidic covenant by God through the prophet Nathan.
All of this happened in three chapters of scripture. So of course, the glory of the Lord, once it came into the city of David, caused much celebration in trumpets and singing and shouting and joy. But David’s wife, Michal, Saul’s daughter, decided at that point to criticize how debased he was in front of the servants.
She was more concerned with the crown. She was more concerned with the kingly robes and the appearance of being demure than she was with the fact that the Ark of the Covenant was back. It was back in the possession of Israel. It was back in the city of David. The glory had returned to the people of God. And her concern was about his worship being too much.
And this is what it looks like in our day-to-day lives when we are giving God the glory and many around us tell us it’s too much, when we’re worshiping and we’re surrendering all, and people say you’re doing too much, they’re essentially trying to block you from honoring the fact that that worship is opening doors. That that worship is recognizing what the Lord has done. And with the woman in the book of Luke, that worship may be the key to you stepping into your liberty, as it states in Luke 7:50:
50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. - Luke 7:50 KJV
So her tears being cried out wasn’t even a celebration. It was supplication, it was prayer that she was doing in verse 38. She was worshiping Him in hopes that she would be healed and that she would be forgiven for her sins. This is the glory of the Lord. This is the weight of God, that when we worship God and when we honor him, everything else lines up, our lives begin to turn around.
And anyone who criticizes that, anyone who judges that, and any concern about that is not your concern. Give it to God and release all notion of the appearance of being put together. Sometimes becoming undone before the Lord is the only way that you can come through a situation. It is to praise Him fully, to worship him without repentance, without fear, unapologetically praising the Lord.
For He is worthy of our praise. He’s worthy of our worship. If anything is worth too much, Jesus is worth too much.
Closing Devotional Prayer
My prayer for you:
Father, in the name of Jesus: thank you, thank you that the mighty woman of God is here this morning. Thank you, God, that we are up again. I thank you, God, for her love for the Word, because the devotionals, God, are not read as frequently or downloaded as frequently as the prayers. But this mighty woman of God who downloads this Word, who listens day in and day out, I thank you, God, for this mighty woman of God.
I thank you for her commitment to the Word, which bears the glory, the Word which carries your will, the Word which is sharper than any two-edged sword. I thank you for this word over her life, over her family, over her children, Lord, for you are mighty to save, mighty to deliver, and mighty to set free.
Nothing can stand against your word, O God, all the days of our lives. So, Lord, we speak, and we decree, O God, the Word in this hour, the word of the Lord, O God, which makes all things new, the word of the Lord, O God, which is the promise of God, yes and amen in you. The word of the Lord, O God, I thank you for it.
And I thank you, God, that our worship is not too much. Our praise is not too much. The way that we come before your throne in worship and in supplication and thanksgiving is not too much. I thank you, Lord, and I pray in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.
Good Morning.
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