“God wants all your life, not just one hour a week”
Once when Jesus was just hanging out with his friends in the house of another friend, a lady came forward and poured an alabaster jar full of perfume at the feet of Jesus and all the friends of Jesus who were around was surprised, and when you’re reading this, we may not be very surprised. What’s the big deal? It’s just a lady putting some perfume at the feet of Jesus. It may not seem like a big deal. Historians believes that, that would have cost that lady somewhere around $55,000 (₹40 Lacks). May not be a big amount, but for her it was a huge amount and more importantly, it was everything she had. She poured out everything that she had, every last bit of whatever she had, she poured it out. And that’s the message we take away from this. Gently, she wiped his feet with her hair; as if time stood still, as the whole house was full with the fragrance of the perfume, this woman gave Jesus everything. Not only did she give the expensive perfume, probably the most valuable thing her family owned, but she also gave herself.
She was utterly undone. A life poured out; giving everything. She put God first. He was her priority and there was nothing else in between her. We all want freedom to be who we are. But we are the ones who keep the chains intact by continuing to suppress ourselves. And what does it mean to put God first?
“He purchased me so that I belong to him, not only by virtue of his paying a price for me, but also by virtue of my willing surrender to him. That’s what I’m doing when I say, “I give myself to you.” I’m saying, “I’m no longer my owner, my master, my shepherd. You are my Owner, Master, Shepherd, Father, my treasure, my wisdom, my hope, my source of fullest and lasting pleasure. I renounce finding all of that in me. I look for it now in you, because I am utterly yours.”
We are, therefore, not our own, that we are utterly dependent on God for our life, our choices, our provision, our protection, our satisfaction, our meaning, our hope of eternal joy. If in fact God has purchased us for this, then the words “I give myself to you, O God” mean, “Yes, yes, yes. Yes to your purchase of me. I am thrilled to be utterly yours, bought with the price of your Son in this way. I renounce, therefore, all self-reliance, all self-exaltation. I give myself utterly to you for your use forever.”
God fills a broken Alabaster