John 12:6 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He/Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
Be real with your intentions and words. ‘We can do and say the right things for the wrong reasons.’ People say what they don’t mean just to impress others; however, they don’t realize that empty words are also lies. Those who have a reputation of speaking loose words that they don’t intend to honour, will lose their reputation and be branded as ‘hypocrites’. There are two major kinds of hypocrites. The first lot are ‘people pleasers’ who exaggerate and speak flamboyant words to become popular, but the more vicious kind of hypocrites are the ‘Phonies’, who intend to cheat, steal or deceive with their ostentatious sweet-talk. However, both categories are deceivers and outright liars.
Judas the Iscariot who later betrayed Jesus was the treasurer in the team of 12 disciples. We read that he was a crook. He pretended to be caring for the impoverished and generous at the house of Lazarus but he was a phony! Mary was expressing her gratitude to Jesus for raising Lazarus her brother from the dead and she took as pure nard, an expensive perfume and poured it at the feet of Jesus and wiped it with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume (vs 12b). The gratitude in Mary’s heart filled the house with sweet fragrance but the stench in the heart of Judas exploded as lethal betrayal in the next few days.
Say what you mean and mean what you say:
1. Please: Let your intentions be real and pure. Never say anything to become popular or prominent. “People will always see through the bad intentions no matter how well they are hidden”. “Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). Clean intentions are the foundation of sound reputation.
2. Phony: Judas was a phony traitor. Avaricious greed for money turned him into a phony. Opportunists who use others for personal gain, manipulation and pretension dig their own grave and bury their reputation with their own hands.
3. Perfume: Intentions of the heart are like perfume. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere (2 Corinthians 2:14). Intentions spray like perfume every time we open our mouth to speak and actions diffuse and fill the atmosphere like air freshener.
It is extremely important to mean what we say and say what we mean. Loose, empty, and careless words with no intention to fulfill them are only deceptive lies.
Matthew 5:27 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No. ‘ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
Prayer: Father God, help me to watch my intentions and speak truthful words that I mean and intend to honour. Amen.
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