How blessed to have found in Christ a Friend who loves with a love that will not let us go, according to that Word which tells us "Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end."
Such love – the everlasting love of Christ, that never gives us up – cannot be satisfied until it has drawn out our love in response to His love. The answer to His love will only be realized in its fullness when at last we have reached love's eternal home. Nevertheless, on the way to the home, the love that appreciates Christ, in the place of His rejection and the day of His rejection, is very sweet to His heart. This we may surely learn from the value that is set by the Lord on the love of Mary, that led her to anoint His feet with the very precious ointment.
Very encouraging it is, and good for our souls, to learn the gracious ways of the Lord with His people in order to awaken love, maintain love, and deepen love, in our hearts. It is these gracious ways of the Lord that we would briefly trace in the New Testament stories of two devoted women.