Pour Out Your Heart

"And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table."

The account is given in Matthew 26, of a woman—a worshipper—who, upon learning that Jesus was sharing a meal with a leper named Simon, came to the mans house and brought an alabaster flask of a very expensive fragrant oil, and anointed Jesus' head with it.

Jesus, knowing He would be crucified in the near future, rebuked His disciples who were criticizing the woman for her 'wasting' what could have been sold for much, and the proceeds given to the poor, saying to them, "She did this for My burial."

Some scholars estimate the value of the fragrant anointing oil was equivalent to approximately one years salary today.

The point was, pouring out her heart through pouring the fragrant oil upon Jesus as an act of her worship to Him, cost the woman everything.

What is your heart filled with?

If you are a lover of and follower of Jesus, your heart should be filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit—the oil of joy for mourning. He said He will fill us with rivers of living water—to overflowing. Jesus fills us with rivers of His love so we can be poured out—to refresh and comfort others who are weary, broken, or who need His healing touch and saving grace.

God's grace is not cheap.  

Jesus gave up everything—His very life—to be poured out on the Cross so we could be set free and be restored to a right relationship with God, our Father.  He paid an immeasurably great cost for us.

When Jesus puts His Spirit in us, the Bible says He has put His treasure in earthen vessels.  You could say we are 'cracked-pots.'  That is, He fills us in our brokenness with the oil of the Holy Spirit, so that warm oil of joy for mourning will flow out onto others. 

He only fills broken vessels.

Are you broken today? 

Does your heart bleed for those people you love who, thus far, have angrily rejected Jesus?   Does your soul ache for your spouse who has given up on you and wants out of the marriage?  Are you crushed from the rejection of your children who think your belief in Christ is foolishness?

The Psalmist wrote (Psa 51:17):

"My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise."

 As well as (Psa 126:5):

"Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy." 

Jesus' heart was so broken over Jerusalem who rejected Him, that He wept for the entire city.  He had wanted to gather them to Himself the way a protective mother hen gathers her chicks to herself under the shadow of her wings, but His people Israel were not willing to receive Him as their Savior and Lord.  

They didn't think they needed a loving Savior.

Christ's love is a sacrificial love.  Most of the time, the people Jesus showed love to, wanted to kill Him for it.  He had their best interests in mind—He came to save His people.  But they rejected Him for loving them.

And so often, we too will be angrily rejected by the people we love the most, whom we only want to save.

Sacrificial love for those who refuse it most is our cross to bear in this life.   We must die daily on the altar of Love's sacrifice.  Jesus said, "For this purpose I was born."

Giving ourselves to be poured out as a sacrifice to love others with God's love is very costly.  In giving all of himself for Jesus, Paul had to die.

And so too, for us.

The Apostle Paul, knowing his life would soon end violently, writes to his friends (Philippians 2:17, 2 Timothy 4:6-7):

"Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

Paul sacrificially gave himself to be poured out—as a drink offering—because of his great love for God and for people.  And not just for his dear friends who loved him; but for his fellow countrymen—the Israelites who rejected him, and who eventually killed him.

Jesus said,

"If they hate you, it's because they hated Me first."

Husbands are commanded to, "Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her." 

Ultimately, the purpose of marriage—besides providing companionship—is to teach a man how to die to self. Jesus demonstrated that kind of sacrificial love for us; His Bride. He said,

"Greater love has no man than this—than to lay down his life for his friends."

The people Jesus loved and came to die for, rejected Him, spat upon Him, and cheered when He was killed on a wooden cross intended for criminals and murderers. And yet, knowing all that before He even came into the world as a Man, as He hung on the cross suffering and awaiting death, He prayed for them and said, "Father forgive them—they don't know what they're doing."

As we endure the painful attacks and rejection that we are sometimes crucified with by friends, family and even our spouses—by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, we too are to offer ourselves as a drink offering, to be poured out as God's love for them. 

We too are to pray for those who hurt us the most:

"Father, forgive them—for they don't realize what they are doing."

Let the prayer of our broken hearts today be: 

"Lord Jesus, fill me up so I can be poured out."

  

"Greater love has no man than this—than to lay down his life for his friends."  

Amen.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.