“When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,c and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
This passage from Luke 7 is one that is deeply resonating with my heart. As I have been praying for more and more of Jesus, He has been reminding me of the woman and the alabaster jar. How with everything she had, she took it and surrendered it at the feet of Jesus.
Our undoing.
To truly let go, so that we can truly be.
In her sin, her mess, and at the sake of her pride-she let go.
We must let go-daily.
How as we desire things in this life, He is so faithful to answer in creating and molding our desires-but we have to be willing to break them ALL at His feet.
To let go, so He can take over.
It’s hard but He draws us to it with His great love.
He undoes us so He can remake us into the likeness of Jesus.
For He has been pursuing us our whole lives; the most faithful Father, Husband, Creator and Everything we could ever need. In our unfaithfulness, He remains faithful. He cries for us to see Him as the Only and Our Beloved, because He truly is.
My heart broke this morning, as I reflected on wanting other things in this world and He gently reminded me of how it is okay to have desires, and ask Him to shape them, but to remember that He alone is enough. That He alone is all we need.
That despite my adulterous heart to the things of this world (as we all fall into), He chooses us and chose us before we could ever choose Him.
He decides to mold us and make us more like Him.
He chose His bride in love and in love, He died for her and pursues her to this day.
I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful for God’s great grace, love, and mercy that reminds me that despite my failures, He still loves me. He is just and we are to reverently fear Him, because He is the One true God! There shall be no idols before Him (big or little).
Those must be broken too. He kindness brings us to repentance.
I am thankful that I can honestly cry out to Him and He meets me there, time and time again and sweet Holy Spirit whispers to my heart.
“God chose me, God chose YOU!”
I choose Him.
If I never marry (as much as I desire it) , I choose Jesus.
If I never have the job I have prayed for, I choose Jesus.
If I lose it all, I choose Jesus.
And in His goodness, so many of these things I am believing/trusting for (because of His great goodness); again, allowing us to see He alone is faithful/sovereign/True. Molding our prayers and hearts to match His.
He again, desires for us to see Him as greatest!
Before all things.
Before all blessings.
And I can only choose Him, because He chose me first! HE chose!
Because, He is the Only one worthy of our alabaster jars.
He is the one who died for us, who set us free, who made a way to the Father!
He is the one who has loved better than any and will forever love best!
And I have been trying to surrender so much, and like many-I pick back up things and end up trying to surrender again. It’s not us, it’s Him that truly allows our heart to make that unwavering surrender.
And He helps us when we fall. He heals. He knows when we truly surrender and Lord, I want true surrender of it all for every-invadingness of YOU!
So as I lay desires down, help me to not pick them up until You desire me to or answer.
He sees our hearts and knows we are weak and see’s surrender, and helps us to further surrender more and more as we walk with Him (each day) , for He reveals how broken we are. And through the revealing, desires to fill us with all that He is.
As He speaks to the woman, “your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
He ignites faith, He is the Author, His grace allows us to enter into the marriage covenant with Him as our Beloved Bridegroom.
HE. HE. HE.
The uniting of undoing us from ourselves and unifying us with Him.
Letting go and falling into Him.
And like the woman with the alabaster jar, our lives (day by day) have to be broken before Him. He refines, prunes, and allows us to remain in Him. So as we grow and mature in faith, we have to continue to take our hearts and lives and leave them as an offering for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
To lay our jars is to undo ourselves every day, so that we enter into the journey of knowing Him and becoming like Him.
Letting go.
Being undone by Love so we may truly rest in Him.
And through this all Lord, we ask for protection and rebuke the enemy.
May we surrender all we are, for all YOU are.
