«　WEEK 5　DAY 5　»

　　Matt. 22:37-38 And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the great and first commandment.

　　Mark 14.9 And truly I say to you, Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done shall also be told as a memorial of her.

　　Since we are all believers, we ought to love God. No other religion speaks of loving God like ours. Loving God is unique to Christianity.

　　The Bible says that he who believes in the Son has life. Believing is adequate because it does not say to believe with all your heart…. However, loving God requires all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. This is the first commandment (Mathh. 22:37-38). No matter where it is placed, this commandment is always the first. This is also the greatest commandment. Wherever it may be, it is the greatest. Today we must praise God for commanding us to love Him…. God not only wants us to believe in Him, but also to love Him. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Volume 18, pp 133-134)

　　"A woman came [Mary—John 12:3], having an alabaster flask of ointment, of very costly pure nard." Pure nard is precious enough, whereas a very costly, pure nard is unmatched in excellence. This very costly, pure nard was inside an alabaster flask. The alabaster flask was also very precious. Not only was Mary offering to the Lord a costly ointment, but the flask that contained the ointment was also very precious. We can offer to the Lord only what is most precious.

　　"And poured it over His head." When she did this, the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment (John 12:3). Not only was the house filled with the fragrance then; even now as we read this passage, we can sense the fragrance! ….This love to the Lord and this consecration to Him indeed is a fragrance that has lasted until now and will last until eternity.

　　"She has done a noble deed on Me" (v. 6). The Lord was opposed to the disciples' concept, who thought that such an anointing and consecration to Him was a waste. The Lord said that it was a noble deed and not a waste. It is a noble deed to love Him too much, to obey Him too much, and to be spent on Him too much; it is not a waste. It is a noble deed to love Him to the extent that we forget about the criticism of those who are older in the Lord. It is a noble deed to love Him to the extent that we forget about the need of the poor outside. It is not a waste. It is a noble deed to love Him to the extent that we waste everything on Him. This is not a waste…. The result of the preaching of the gospel is not only to send sinners to heaven but to make every saved person a lover of Christ. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Volume 19, pp 211-212, 215-216)