Tune My Heart: Generosity

Show me your Faith

Jesus began his ministry with these words, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17)

My oldest son went to graduate school, so he’s smarter than me, I guess. He taught me a term I wasn’t familiar with but have come to appreciate—“Throughline” and it means a common element, theme or idea, consistently found from beginning to end of a person’s writings or teachings.

It seems, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near”, is Jesus’ throughline—the thread woven throughout his ministry years on earth. It was as if he was saying, “I am King. I’m building my Kingdom. I want you in it! Repentance is step one”.

When we get to Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents, Rabbi Jesus has been teaching for many many months. He begins with a word I don’t want you to miss. “Again….” As if to say, I’ve taught this before, you’ve heard this before, I’ll say the same thing another way to make sure you understand.

“A Man” had “servants” he trusted with “talents”—something of great value, and then he went away. When the man returned a long time later, his only concern was, “what did you do with what I entrusted to you?” He then judged the servants as either “good and faithful” or “wicked, lazy and worthless”. Ouch.

It reminds me of a letter written to the early church by Jesus’ little brother, James.

…Someone will say, You have faith; I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder.

“You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did….. a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”

Jesus came preaching the Kingdom and Jesus came seeking faith-filled followers. At the close of another parable, in Luke 18 Jesus is spurring his disciples on to faith in prayer. He says, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Brothers and sisters, servants of the King, may we be faithful with Jesus—the gift God has entrusted to us. Your Savior is your greatest treasure. Will you speak of Him today? Will you share this precious possession with others? When “the Man” returns will he call us “good and faithful”?

Donielle Winter
EFCC Member

by Donielle Winter

Her Story: She Did What She Could

(Mark 14:3–9)

On the inside cover of my grandfather’s Bible, which sits in my office, it reads: “Presented to Philip S. Barker Jr. by Emmanuel Faith Community Church Sunday School, July 1941.”

That inscription tells a story — a story of faith rooted in a young man’s life before he joined the Navy in World War II. I keep that Bible as a reminder of my Grandpa, but also of the heritage of faith I come from, which is something deeply special to me. His faith and his Bible are part of my own story, helping me take step after step with Jesus. Every time I see it, I’m reminded to hold on to God’s Word, to obey even when it’s tough, and to honor Jesus above all else.

In Mark 14:3–9, we see another story of faith — one that has inspired generations of believers to honor and prioritize Jesus, even when it’s costly. Imagine being in that room. You hear the sound of the jar breaking, smell the perfume filling the air, and sense the tension as voices begin to rise. Some people are shocked. Others are angry. But one woman quietly does something unforgettable — she anoints Jesus with expensive perfume. Whether she fully understood what she was doing or not, her act became part of the greater Gospel story. A simple act of devotion turned into something eternal.

In verse 8, Jesus says something simple and profound:

“She did what she could.”

We aren’t told much about her. We don’t know her background or how long she had followed Jesus. But what we do see is a heart that loves Him. She wasn’t worried about what others thought. She wasn’t counting the cost. She didn’t hesitate to honor her Savior.

This is what stands out to me — a simple story reminding us that faithfulness isn’t about doing everything, it’s about doing what we can with love and devotion. Are we willing to honor Jesus even when others might not understand? Even when it costs us something — time, comfort, reputation, or resources? Her story has been told for thousands of years because she placed honoring Jesus above all else.

Will you let that be part of your story too?

Jeremy Johnson

by Jeremy Johnson

It Broke

My parents gave me a Pentax 35 mm SLR camera with two lenses as a High School graduation present. At that time, it was the nicest thing I’d ever owned. Emotionally, it's still the most precious gift I've ever received. I really got into photography. I brought my camera on a short-term mission trip to Ensenada, Mexico in order to document the trip and the VBS activities our group was doing. One day we visited a park, and a boy was fascinated by my camera. I felt a longing to let him take some photos with it, but I hesitated because he was little, maybe only seven or eight years old. I had a choice to make: do what was prudent or give something precious away. At that moment, I decided that my mission was more precious than my stuff. I didn’t actually give my camera away, but I placed it in another’s hands, which risked it getting wrecked. I put the strap over the boy’s shoulders, showed him how to look through the lens, helped his fingers find the button to snap photos, and then I watched him walk away and start taking pictures. I got my camera back from him a few minutes later, and it was not damaged. This moment forever made an impression on my priorities in life, and I remembered it when reflecting on this passage.

And while he (Jesus) was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.” – Mark 14:3

Unlike my camera story, where I got it back after sharing, the woman who blessed Jesus gave her whole gift away. The Scripture says she “broke the flask”. The alabaster jar or box was sealed to keep the ointment from evaporating or crystallizing when exposed to air. The author does not use the Greek word for “open”; he uses the word “broke,” which usually means to crush, break, or shatter.

She gave Jesus a precious gift and gave it all. I offer some of what is precious to me, some of the time, and I had to think back thirty years to find a story of only moderately similar risk and sacrifice. What about you? Let’s pray about the gifts we can give and the risks we can take to demonstrate our love and trust in the Lord.

Pastor John Riley

by John Riley

“Waste”

Mark 14:3-5

Recently, a friend of mine moved out of state. As the week leading up to his move was concluding, I realized I’d been so busy I’d hardly spent any time with him. Before I even knew it, he was on his flight. The regret of my wasted time slowly started to creep up on me in the past few days and I wish that I’d recognized that I wouldn’t get that time back, before it was too late.

This passage and the move both have me thinking a lot about waste. After this woman broke her bottle of costly oil over Jesus — it’s labeled as a waste by the people around her. Their justification being that she should’ve sold it to benefit the poor. This reaction reveals the dichotomy between performance and posture. Her intentional offering wasn’t wasted because she beheld the living Christ and poured out her oil on Him. What mattered in this moment was not the good deed itself, it was where it came from. She was not concerned with what would make her look good or holy, she was concerned with worshipping her Savior. Her posture was one of surrender, sacrifice, and obedience.

The response from the others speaks with performative undertones and a holier-than-thou attitude. They’re convinced that this oil had a better use than being poured on Jesus. The real waste was not the broken flask, it was that these men were sitting across the table from the King of Kings and they treated it as casual. A waste of time to be in the room with Jesus, focused on the wrong things.

Sometimes, we may get so caught up in trying to be like Jesus, that we forget to behold Him. If we spend our time trying our best to serve, treat people well, and do good things, we’ve wasted our time because we missed the crucial step of beholding Jesus. If we say that we want to spend an eternity in the presence of the Lord, praising Him, do our lives on this side of heaven reflect that claim?

Lord, would you slow us down enough to sit at your feet today?

Kassie Lowe
YA Women’s Intern & Worship Leader

by Kassie Lowe

Love is Costly

Mark 14: 3-9

Today is Veteran’s Day. November 11th is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL who have served in the military, living or deceased, but in particular the living veterans among us. My husband is a veteran who served in the Army for twenty years. He was deployed for nine months, jointly assigned with the Navy on a ship during the Persian Gulf War. I remember putting the boys to bed and turning on CNN, the only source of news at the time, to glean some idea of where my husband was and what was happening. It was weeks before I got a handwritten letter, as he was busy coordinating all of the helicopter flights for the group of ships, and flying some himself.

Thankfully it wasn’t a long war, but lives were lost. The war claimed the lives of the first enlisted women to be killed in action, during a Scud missile attack. But Since World War I, hundreds of thousands of men and women have bravely served and lost their lives and hundreds of thousands more were injured, because they loved our country and the freedom it represented.

Familiar to all is John 15: 12-14, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you . . . “

The point is, there is a cost involved in serving to maintain our freedoms, law and order, and national security. Whether you are a fireman running into the fire on 9/11, a law enforcement officer putting their life on the line every day, or a military service member defending our country, you know the risk, but the cost is worth it.

Why did Mary pour the most expensive oil on Jesus' head and feet? Because she loved Him so much she would give Him anything to show it, and she was preparing Jesus for His sacrifice for everyone on the cross (even if she didn't realize it at the time).

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) Jesus Christ was tortured and died on the cross for the sins of us ALL.

How can we practically show our love for Jesus as Mary did?
What does sacrificial love mean to you?
Father, thank you for sending your son to die for us.

Deb Hill
EFCC Member

by Deb Hill