“If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (John 12:26)
What kind of honor are you looking for? The glory that comes from God or the glory that people give you? Paul writes, “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:10). The following three statements of Jesus make it clear how important it is to seek the glory that comes from God alone: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? … The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood … Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.” (John 5:44; 7:18; 8:50).
Because the Lord Jesus served with this attitude of heart, the Father honored Him during His life. Peter writes, “When he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (2 Pet. 1:17). But this was only the beginning. After He had returned to heaven, we read in Hebrews 2:9, “but we see… Jesus… crowned with glory and honor.” The Father honors those who serve the Son. This is true in the first place with regard to eternity, but certainly also for the time here on earth. It is very remarkable what promises the Lord Jesus gives in the present time to those who give up something for His sake and the sake of the gospel: “Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.’” (Mark 10:29–30). It’s not without reason that the ‘fathers’ are omitted here in the enumeration of the reward. Those willing to give the kingdom of God first priority in their lives and to give up things for the sake of the ministry of Jesus should know they have a Father in heaven who knows all their needs and will supply them (see Mt. 6:32–33)!
The Word of God preserves the names of some women who served the Lord Jesus with their possessions (see Luke 8:1–3). Mary too was prepared to sacrifice something very precious for her Lord. The nard she used to anoint Him was, at the time, about the annual salary of a day laborer! What does the Lord say about her? “She has done what she could” (Mark 14:8). There is hardly a greater honor! Then He adds, “Truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mark 14:9). Thus, once again God’s promise was fulfilled, which is still fully valid in our time: “those who honor me I will honor” (1Sam. 2:30).
The Pharisees loved the first seats—the seats of honor—in the synagogues. How can you, in view of your life, protect yourself from such an attitude of heart? Do you believe that God will fulfill the promises of Mark 10:29–30 and Matthew 6:32–33 in your life as well, if you rely on them in faith and act accordingly? The Lord could say of Mary, “She has done what she could.”
What can He say about your life?
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