The Alabaster Jar

Mark 14:3

While Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came
 having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.

Costly oil born of life’s adversities for every believer becomes your alabaster jar filled with your fragrant offerings if you let it.

The jar is not meant for you to keep, but for you to break open and lavish on Jesus. It is costly because it has cost you something; pain, loss and suffering. Yet to lavish your oil as an offering unto Jesus, is to break open the jar of your heart filled with pain, loss and suffering and give it all away. It is your extravagant form of worship. Break open the flask of oil kept for Him. Pour out your heart unto Jesus. The pain and anguish will turn to expressions of love and exhilaration. He will fill you anew with unspeakable joy. Once the flask is broken and poured out upon Him, your heart of love for Him will soar. You will be ruined for the ordinary, never to be the same again. Once you have given Him your all, He lavishes on you the riches of heaven. His passion becomes your passion, for He is a God of compassion. Your heart will beat to a different drum, to the beat of His heart. Don’t waste your pain; give it all to Him, in abandoned, reckless love.

Break open your alabaster jar and lavish it on Him. It is your sacrificial offering, an exchange of passion for Him.

Father, because of Your loving kindness, I live. Because Your love is better than life, I live. I was in chains and You set me free. I was in prison and You released me. I was tangled in a web; Your tears washed over me, and brought my healing. You drew me to Yourself when everyone else abandoned me. You held me and never let me go. Now I rest between your shoulders. I’ve been kissed by the Son; Oh breath of heaven, hover over me. I am wrapped in Your beauty, embraced in Your loving arms, canopied by Your wings. Free to be Your created one. I’ve been captured by Your grace, surrounded by Your love, because of You, I live. 

Reflection: Don’t let fear, shame or loss, keep you from completely abandoning yourself to Jesus. His love is better than life. Get into a quiet place and have a heart‐to‐heart talk with Him. Pour out your heart to Him. Let His love overshadow you and love you back to life.

God Bless You,

Pastor Cathy Coppola