My Alabaster Box

I wrote a post about Mary of Bethany, the woman with the Alabaster Box and I was so impressed by her emotion, her outpouring of love for the Lord. She was described as a sinner, but she was repentant and brokenhearted at the Lord’s forgiveness and compassion on her. While Judas’ was more worried about money, she anointed Him for burial and washed His feet with perfume and tears and dried them with her hair.

I have seen a couple of old time foot washing services, it was nothing like that. Many people confuse her with Mary Magdalene, but John 11:2 makes plain her identity. What a pure and unselfish act of love, just as the act of giving your life for someone.

And you know, I thought about it and I decided there were things in everyone’s lives, yours and mine that are in those Alabaster Boxes, secrets, wounds, scars and hurts. There are unimaginable heartaches and breaks, horror stories, love stories and triangles. misfits and missed opportunities.

I would be in tears telling my story. You would be in tears telling yours. There’s no need to rehearse the past, relive the sadness or shame. It’s under the blood of Jesus, forgiven, forgotten, forever. Don’t let the lies or sadness creep in, depression and grief are sad states to live in. Not even a nice place to visit.

I am truly sorry for hurting people who would love help. Sadly there are those who only want the handout and not the leg up. I saw an episode of JAG once, a marine could not make it over a wall, though he tried and tried, finally the main character, Harm, told them they were a team. So here goes the marine again, and then as he gets to the top and cant get over there are his comrades pulling him on down. It reminds me of the father whose son fell into the fire with seizures. He believed Jesus, yet tacked on the help my unbelief, Jesus did. He met the man at His level. Just as He cried with the sisters over Lazarus, it was compassion, He knew He could raise him.

The death of Christ breaks your heart as you become a repentant believer. The oil of the Holy Spirit mends it as you are forgiven of sin. He paid the price, because no one else could. You are no longer your own but you are accepted into the beloved. Your new life is in Him and the Holy Spirit guides you. He’s the only spirit guide you need. Don’t grieve Him, He’s a person, don’t harden your heart and let it be evil because of unbelief. You’re still born again, but when you fail to accept the gifts and counsel and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, you are grieving Him. He will step away and have to watch you fail. That’s never His will.

That’s why we’ve studied rest, His rest, His peace, we must labor for it, Hebrews 4. Get some rest. Holy rest, sacred rest, peaceful rest. You’ve broken your Alabaster Box at His feet, washed His feet and dried them. Your box is broken, now let Him pick up the pieces. Rebecca Jones / V.Borodinova

If you’d like you can read my other post on this, please scroll down to July 27th, my search box isn’t working right. If not, here’s the beautiful version of the CeCe Winans song. Get a tissue.