Bible Devotions for Living

Do you discourage other believers?

⁶ While Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had a serious skin disease, ⁷ a woman approached Him with an alabaster jar of very expensive fragrant oil. She poured it on His head as He was reclining at the table. ⁸ When the disciples saw it, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹ “This might have been sold for a great deal and given to the poor.” ¹⁰ But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for Me. ¹¹ You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me. ¹² By pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she has prepared Me for burial. ¹³ I assure you: Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.” (Mt 26:6-13) (Also Mk 14:6)

The Apostles were mighty tools in the Lord’s hand, but they were not perfect. In this scene they gave a hard time to a woman who was trying to do something beautiful for the Lord. This woman must have been confused and crushed since she was trying to do something nice but instead was rebuked and made out to be a villain by the pillars of the church. Jesus called them out for their bad behavior by asking a very direct question, “Why are you bothering this woman?”

This wasn’t the only time the apostles discouraged other followers of Christ. They tried to shoo away the Canaanite woman (Mt 15:21-23), shoo away parents who were bringing their children to Jesus (Mk 10:13), and told the blind man to shut up who was crying out to Jesus for healing (Mk 10:47-48).

What about you? Do you discourage other believers?

Believers today can be just as discouraging as the apostles to other believers. They might ‘correct’ or rebuke others when things aren’t done the way they would do things or things they don’t approve of. That’s exactly what the apostle’s did.

Be careful not to be a discouragement to other believers as they walk with Christ serving Him. The world is a tough enough place for a believer to live already, don’t make it harder on others than it needs to be.

Jesus stepped in to help the discouraged and correct the discouragers. Be like Him and love instead of discouraging and don’t be afraid to correct bad behavior.

Think about it

Have you ever been discouraged by other believers like the woman in our passage? How did it make you feel?

Do you encourage or discourage others? Are Christian’s glad to see you or do they run when they see you coming?

Do you ‘bother’ or pick on others because they’re not serving the Lord, worshipping, or doing things just because it isn’t how you would?

Are you just a pain to other believers? How?

How might Jesus complete this question to you, “Why are you bothering ______?”

You need to remember that you will give an account for every careless word you speak:

But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. (Matthew 12:36 – NASB)

So follow this Biblical command:

Therefore encourage one another and build up one another … (1 Thes 5:11 – NASB)

And live with humility, caring more about others’ interests than your own:

³ Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; ⁴ do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. ⁵ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus …(Php 2:3-5 – NASB)

Do you encourage or discourage other believers?

Why are you bothering this woman? (Mt 26:10)