Post by Nicole Hall
No one can comprehend the cost of the oil that I pour out for Jesus. He died so that I may live. But I pour it out because He came to save me. He came to refresh me. He came to give me new life. He came to renew my mind. He came so that I may live and be free. He came so that I could lift my hands to the one true and living God; the Almighty Father who loved me from the beginning even though I couldn’t and didn’t love myself.
He showed me who I was and told me that He had plans for me to live and not die. That He had plans to prosper me; to prosper the works of my hands if I followed Him, was obedient to Him, sacrificing what I wanted for what He wanted for me. He refreshed my soul with living water so for Him, I pour out this oil. No one knows the cost. No one understands that I paid in raw, jagged, torturous pain that everyone but I could see. They didn’t understand that I had to walk through it to get to the other side. I was mocked, I was talked about, I was laughed at, I was scorned, I was hated, I was betrayed and I was wrecked by the stares, glares, thoughts and works against me. They told me I was stupid, that I was over spiritualizing when we are spiritual beings living in a human body and when we are supposed to have the mind of Christ, who told us to think of things in the Spirit. Oh and by the way, God is Spirit. They don’t know the cost of the oil.
Sometimes we are born into situations that cause us to flounder in life. Until we connect with the source that gave us life, we cannot comprehend the love that would sustain us in the worst situations ever. That same love is what God called us to walk in, so other people who have known our struggle will see God in us. So like the woman with the alabaster box of oil, I pour out my devotion to the one who I call on when I am in pain. (Matthew 26:6-7 LEB)
No one truly understands the relationship you have with a God who lives. No one understands a God who says “Go” and you go. It’s not for them to understand, but for His glory. It’s for the redemption of humanity as a whole and He will move in the most granular of events. Even you’re little, old business. That’s where you are supposed to “get it.” You may not see it in someone else but when we live the life that God wants us to live, on this path He leads us down that has valleys in the shadow of death, that has still waters and whose rod and staff comfort us, we understand. (Psalm 23:4 KJV) Our walk may meet at a midpoint, our paths may even cross. You ask, “Which way do I go?”
Your situation may hurt and the pain may be uncompromising. But the woman who brought the alabaster jar with expensive perfume to Jesus, only to break it open allowing it to flow down his head, knew the cost. Luke 7:37 NIV says that the woman lived a sinful life and she came to see Jesus. She wept and wet his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair and poured perfume on them. Jesus spoke to Simon the Pharisee when he noticed that Jesus allowed this “sinful” woman to touch him. Jesus told him that her sins were forgiven, because she showed how great her love was for God.
I don’t know what your “sins” are but I knew what mine were. Jesus carried the weight of our sins with Him. I can imagine how Jesus felt, stooped over with the weight of a thick, wooden cross on my back that I had to carry. Why did I have to feel this way and why did I have to trudge uphill with this heavy cross to go through the pain. When will there be an end to my personal struggle. Where was God?
Know that God is right there with us on our journey. Don’t stop pouring out your oil to the one who loved you first. God doesn’t miss what you are doing, what you are giving up; sin for forgiveness and choosing to love Him back.
"Nobody knows the cost of the oil!"
