The Alabaster Box: Reflections

For the past couple of weeks, I have been periodically listening intently to the words of this song. I must admit I have heard the song many times before, and appreciated the artistry of Cece Winans and the way she sung it. However, it wasn't until I started listening to the words that I came to realize the awesome "testimony" put to music. Jesus was certainly not kidding when he told the group of frustrated onlookers: "Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." (Mark 14:9)

It is interesting to note that the crowd around Jesus saw the exercise as a colossal waste; "it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her" (v.5). Yet, isn't it typical that others would try to tell you how much praise, worship, adoration, and so on, to give to God, when you are the one who knows just how much He has done for you? As a part of the chorus to the song has her saying:

You weren't there-the night He found me
You did not feel what I felt
When He wrapped His loving arms around me
And you don't know the costOf the oil in my alabaster box

and that is exactly the point. When we come to the point where we realize just how much God has done for us, and we give Him our all, sometimes through tears of joy and shouts of praise, who is to say it doesn't take all of that?

I like what Matthew Henry, noted Bible Commentator had to say, in part, on this text:"Let us anoint Christ as our Beloved, kiss him with a kiss of affection; and anoint him as our Sovereign, kiss him with a kiss of allegiance. Did he pour out his soul unto death for us, and shall we think any box of ointment too precious to pour out upon him? It is observable that she took care to pour it all out upon Christ's head; she broke the box (so we read it); but because it was an alabaster box, not easily broken, nor was it necessary that it should be broken, to get out the ointment, some read it, she shook the box, or knocked it to the ground, to loosen what was in it, that it might be got out the better; or, she rubbed and scraped out all that stuck tot he sides of it. Christ must have been honoured with all we have, and we must not think to keep back any part of the price. Do we give him the precious ointment of our best affections? Let him have them all; love him with all the heart."

Don't let anyone stop your praise, and if they try to, praise right over and through them. They weren't there when He did what He did in your life that cause you to love Him as much as you do! Christ deserves our all; all our worship, all our praise, and just as important, all of ourselves.