Pour It Out

Behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, upon learning that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment and standing behind him at his feet, she began to wet his feet with her tears, wipe them with the hairs of her head, and anointed them with ointment.  Luke 7:36

There are times in life when sprinkling, measuring, or calculating emotions or sins just doesn’t work – we need to pour it out and seek God’s grace. There comes a time when we need to forget all the inhibitions that bottle us up, and just be real with ourselves and God.  Like this woman, we need to be willing to pour it out.

We first need to pour out gratitude to Jesus for all the ways He finds us when we have strayed, the way He loves us in the midst of our faults and failures, and the way He accepts us back into the fold each and every time.  Gratitude is the language of our faith in Christ, and it changes things.

We need to pour out guilt.  I find that it is so easy to carry around guilt for things I did, things I didn’t do, things I should have done, things I said that hurt others, and the list goes on.  Guilt is that awful feeling of remorse for breaking a moral code, and one will do anything to get rid of that feeling. Pour it out, there is “no condemnation” for those in Jesus Christ.

We need to pour out regret.  Everyone has regrets, but when our regrets are not dealt with directly and receptively, it just leads to more regret.  This load of regret just begins to hold a power over us, and we can’t break the cycle.

Finally, we need to pour out good deeds.  Good deeds are something that comes naturally if your heart is right.  You just want to pass on the love you have for your God.  Good deeds don’t make everything right with God, but the Grace He offers does.

When we take that alabaster jar and pour out gratitude, guilt, regret, and good deeds, we find that we receive a whole lot more than we give.