Elvis Presley, Two Women and the Cost of Devotion

Elvis Presley promoting Jailhouse Rock“Mary therefore took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” (John 12:3)

Who are you devoted to?

DEVOTION TO ELVIS PRESLEY

A woman name Carol Frazer is devoted to Elvis Presley. It shows in that she worked hard to have a street named after the long since gone singer. She was successful. “Elvis Place” is the new name now of a subdivision lane in suburban Whitehaven.

Miss Frazer was beside herself when she heard this good news. “[S]he was so excited she didn’t know what to do,” once source reads. And then suggested that she go to see an Elvis movie to celebrate.

“But she has seen them all. Love Me Tender, 107 times, Loving You, 110 times, King Creole, 91 times, and Jailhouse Rock, 79 times.” And if this isn’t enough proof of this woman’s devotion to Elvis, maybe her “twelve scrapbooks about [him and] 40,000 pictures [along with the] man-size cardboard replica of [Elvis] overlooking her bed” is.

Now that’s devotion!

THE COST OF DEVOTION

So who are you devoted to?

If it’s to Christ, then it’ll show like Carol Frazer’s did with Elvis (even though she’s devoted to the wrong person!) and also like Mary’s in John 12:3.

Did you happen to notice the one thing that both ladies had in common in their devotion?

It cost them.

DEVOTION COSTS IN TIME

First of all, it cost them in time.

For Carol – to see all those Elvis movies, I mean, the hours add up!

And for Mary – she had to work a whole lotta overtime to gain that pound of pure nard to anoint our Lord. It’s not likely that someone just handed it to her.

And so these ladies’ devotion cost them in time, first of all.

DEVOTION COSTS IN TREASURE

And secondly, it cost them in treasure.

For Carol – can you just imagine the big bucks she dished out to get 40,000 pictures of Elvis?

And for Mary – the Scripture says the pound of pure nard was “very costly.”

And our devotion for Jesus will show in much the same way. It’ll show in our investment of time and treasure.

And isn’t the Lord Jesus Christ worth it after all He’s done for us?

(Elvis Presley promoting Jailhouse Rock picture file above is in the public domain: click here.)

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About Pastor Mike

Pastor Mike is making the most of web technologies to encourage disciples. A self-proclaimed “twitterholic,” one twitter follower describes him as the “jogging, blogging, tweeting Pastor.” Visits to Pastor Mike’s blog (A Heart For God) number in the hundreds of thousands. His video blogs have been viewed over a half a million times.