Custom-Made

Based on Deuteronomy 22-24, Mark 14:1-26

"And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?" Mark 14:3‭-‬4.

It is very easy to get "caught up" in the customs...to follow ways, rules, traditions of old, but not understand the meaning behind it all (or lose the meaning completely). In losing that meaning, we lose heart. We lose the "why." And we start saying, "Why me? Why do I have to do this? Why have I been doing this all these years?"

If it's a custom of the world or a custom we adhere to while we follow Jesus, we are all custom-made. But we do have to remember that before we are shaped by these customs, we were custom-made & designed individually by God! It's HIS handiwork that made us who we are, and when custom becomes ritual, we start to confuse what's important! This woman knew that her alabaster box could have been sold for money, and giving that money to the poor could have been an indirect act of love to God as well...but she chose a direct love, bypassing some of the customs which made sense. These customary practices held back the disciples in a net of "should haves" rather than seeing the love she was sharing clearly!

"An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever: Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee."
Deuteronomy 23:3‭-‬5.

God changed the curse into a blessing! He could have just allowed the curse to come upon His people, but instead, He turned it to something good! The curse seemed like it was going to be the custom. Like it was bound to happen. But God had better plans!

Following God's Word is our greatest custom, and having Him within us as the Holy Ghost gives us wisdom & further discretion on how to follow Jesus as closely as we can in this day & hour. Before we are under the world's "custom control," we are under God's control! It's all about showing Him our love!