Arise to Devotion - What Devotion becomes - Ps Matt Wyatt

Most people want to be devoted to God. Very few are willing to do what Mary of Bethany did.

She broke open a jar worth a year's wages and poured it all over Jesus' feet — in public, without explanation, while people around her openly questioned whether she had lost her mind. And Jesus looked at her critics and said: wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told as a memorial to her.

Not Paul's conversion. Not Peter's confession. This woman's act of devotion. Remembered everywhere, forever.

In the final installment of The Devoted Life, we close out eight levels of devotion with the three that most people never reach — not because they aren't available, but because they require something the earlier levels don't:

🔹 Affection — the shift from "I should worship" to "I genuinely want to be near God." Mary sitting at His feet in Luke 10 while Martha performed.
🔹 Surrender — bringing your unmanaged grief, your unanswered prayers, and your quiet accusation of "where were You?" to the feet of Jesus anyway. Mary falling in John 11.
🔹 Abiding — when you've been near Him long enough that devotion stops being an effort and starts being an overflow. Mary pouring everything in John 12 — because the fullness had nowhere else to go.

We also address something that has caused two thousand years of confusion: who exactly is Mary of Bethany, and why has she been misidentified, conflated with Mary Magdalene, and overlooked for so long?

Paul shows us how devotion begins. Peter shows us how devotion forms. Mary shows us what devotion becomes.

This is Part 3 of The Devoted Life — the conclusion of a three-part series on the eight levels of devotion. Watch Parts 1 and 2 on our channel.

📍 Manningham Christian Centre | Manningham, Victoria, Australia
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