In biblical days, when a young single woman reached the age of settling down into marriage, her family would buy her an alabaster box and fill it with precious oil. The size of the box and the value of the oil was a reflection of a family’s wealth. So if a young man (sometimes old) was interested in such a woman, he would woo her and eventually ask for her hand in marriage. The young woman would then respond by breaking her box at the feet of pursuer as a sign of honouring the proposal. ..Romantic, right?
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| Image Courtesy of Debbie Francisco(Pinterest.com) |
So,
when Jesus was dining with Simon the leper, the woman came in and broke her
alabaster box at the feet of Jesus, kissed the feet and wiped them with her
hair. If she had just opened the lid of the box, it could have been used for
something else but she made a complete sacrifice and broke it all. She gave her
all to Jesus-all her dreams of a better life. She wisely broke her box at the
feet of the only one who could make all her dreams come true.
This
was a sign of full surrender and submission. It meant she was giving her all to
God and asking Him to mould her desires and will into His perfect will. Surrender is not easy. One of the toughest
things to come from the mouth of Jesus was: “Father,
if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Luke 22:42(TNIV®)
Surrender
is even more difficult for us because of three reasons:
- First, we have our own plans for our lives-our idea of a perfect life. We want to finish school, get a good job, get married to the men of our dreams and live happily ever after. For Jesus, His biggest desire was for God to take the cup of suffering from Him. He was in anguish and He felt the weight of God’s will on His shoulder- it wasn’t easy for him.
- Secondly, God also has good plans for our lives. God’s plan for our lives is not always our plan. His idea of ‘Good’ does not always resonate well with us. For God, His will for Jesus at that time was for Him to die for us.
- Thirdly, surrender means giving up our ‘good’ plans and taking up His will. Surrender scares us because it means that the things that we want for ourselves may never happen. Maybe all we wanted was a normal life but God’s plan for our lives is to triumph like Job triumphed in the midst of temptation. But we don’t even know if we are strong enough for the eternity God has set before us. We are afraid because we don’t know if the things that we want are the same things that God wants for us.
The
young woman took a big risk. Breaking her alabaster box at the feet of Jesus
meant that if she met her dream man right outside Simon’s house, she wouldn’t
have a box to break at his feet. Hell, the dream man would probably not even realise
she was available without the box. She gave her all to God not thinking about
what would happen thereafter. That is a sign of complete trust; entrusting our
lives to God even though His will is not always our will.
What
is in your alabaster box?
We all
have alabaster boxes. Ours are filled
with where we have been, who we have become, and dreams of where we see
ourselves going. Perhaps
yours is filled with dreams of that one man who will provide for you, protect
you and all was be there for you. Maybe you have been holding on tightly to
your Alabaster box waiting for so long for a man who is worthy of you breaking
your box at his feet.
What
is in your alabaster box?
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| Image Courtesy of agodman.com |
Maybe
yours is incomplete- it has been broken too many times that some pieces have
been lost in the process. Yours is incomplete. It is a reflection of your life;
it carries the weight of failure and it droops with disappointments. You don’t like
that your life is so incomplete, but that is where you find yourself today.
Perhaps
after so many disappointments, broken relationships and failed marriages, it is
time to stop searching. It is
time you realized that no relationship under the sun will fill that void.
Relationships are meant to compliment us not to complete us. (Col 2:10)
Take
your alabaster box to the feet of Jesus and break it there for He is worthy of
such honour. And if your box has been broken too many times that all that
remains are too many broken pieces and nothing inside, you are exactly what He
is looking for. He is looking for such a heart that is broken to be made whole.
Jesus completes, He is the essence of completeness.
“For
in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” Col 2:9 (TNIV®)
It is
time to turn your wandering eye to the ultimate one. The good thing about God
is that He is such a ‘gentleman’; He only takes you as deeper into Him as you
would desire. He will open doors for you that you never even knew existed. Hand
over to Him the broken pieces and let Him be the one to mold you into what He
intended for your life.
An
Excerpt from The Proverbs
31 Lady
