Beautiful Word: Your Daily Devotion

Daily Scriptural Insights, Curated by the Editors of CT | [View online]( [ChristianityToday.org]( [Donate]( [Beautiful Word Newsletter]( Friday, August 18, 2017 Radical Devotion [Sara Hagerty]( Hagerty&db=true) Today’s Verse “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” Mark 14:6 (NIV) Mary had eyes for one: Jesus. Her motives were oriented toward him. She wasn’t driven to his feet by accolades and she stayed despite criticism. What she cultivated with this man, Jesus, in the quiet and ordinary became her greatest expression. This was radical love, according to Jesus. In Mary, we see what it means to “waste” ourselves on God. In situations we might otherwise avoid or resent—the fourth-floor cubicle, the back row of singers, the laundry room—God invites us, through Mary’s forever-retold story, into an expression of radical love. The kind of unhinged love that lays everything at his feet—whether or not anyone else ever sees, approves, or applauds. The pieces of Mary’s wasteful moment are a prism through which to consider this idea of hiddenness. It was a moment meant for God alone that God used to invite others to him. A moment in which she lived out no desire for acclaim and no fear of others’ opinions. This invitation to embrace hiddenness grows from a seasonal, one-time invitation into the question of our lives: When no one else applauds you, when life is hard and makes no sense or simply feels like drudgery in the still quietness, will you hide yourself in God? Reflect: Revisit Mark 14:3–9. How does this passage challenge your own inner focus and devotion? Pray: Reflect over all you’ve read and considered this week, inviting God to direct you toward a specific action step you can take to put these ideas into action in your own life. Sara Hagerty is the author of the forthcoming book [U]([nseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World That Loves to Be Noticed]( as well as Every Bitter Thing Is Sweet. Learn more at [SaraHagerty.net](, on Twitter at [@SaraHagerty](, and Instragram at [@SaraHagertyWrites](. Adapted from Unseen by Sara Hagerty. Copyright © 2017 by Sara Hagerty. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com. All rights reserved. [Read devotions online]( | [Share with a friend](mailto:&subject=Christianity Today Women: Radical Devotion&body= More for Women [Thou Shalt Not Bail]( [Thou Shalt Not Bail]( The bailing trend is an understandable byproduct of a busy culture. But is it Christian? Jen Pollock Michel [Can Robots Be Sexist?]( [Can Robots Be Sexist?]( How artificial intelligence might reinforce and amplify gender stereotypes. Dorcas Cheng-Tozun Follow Us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [RSS]( [Subscribe to this newsletter]( In the Current Issue [July/August]( [How to Find Hope in the Humanless Economy]( [Immigrants Are Reshaping American Missions]([Subscriber access only] [How God Sent His Word to An Iraqi Interpreter]( [View Full Issue]( [Subscribe Now]( Christian Bible Studies [Women Leaders Bible Study Bundle]( ) Serve God and lead others out of your calling. by Alexandra Clair Stancil, Anne Peterson, Anita Carman, and more [Beautiful Word]( Delivered via email to subscribers daily. [Subscribe]( | [Email Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Advertise]( | [Subscribe to CT]( You are currently subscribed as: {EMAIL} Copyright ©2017 [ChristianityToday.org]( Christianity Today, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved.