Break The Alabaster

I remember having to read Pilgrim’s Progress when I was younger. I kept wondering what was in his backpack and why was it so heavy. That’s one of those aspects that you don’t understand as a kid. As he traveled the backpack grew heavier. Finally, as he approached the cross, the backpack breaks loose and goes tumbling down. As an adult, I now know that his backpack was full of guilt, shame, fear, his past troubles and sin. When he gave his heart to the Lord he became free from all those things that once weighed him down.

In Luke 7, Jesus was invited to have dinner at the ho,e of a Pharisee. This man lived a strict life as closely as possible to the Law of Moses. Verse 37 says they were reeling at the table, “When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume” (NLT). She knelt at Jesus feet, cried tears on His feet, wiped them with her hair and anointed Him with perfume. In order to do that she had to break the alabaster jar that carried her previous identity. It represented her immoral past, how she and others defined her, as well as her worth. By breaking it, she was declaring that she is no longer who she was. Jesus forgave her and sent her on her way in peace free from the burden of her past.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” When you come to Christ, you are breaking that alabaster jar of identity that you’ve been carrying. You are no longer defined by who you were. At the cross, you break free of your guilt, shame, fear, sin and old identity. You are free to move forward in peace. Quit carrying that alabaster jar around with you into your new life. It only carries who you were, not who you are becoming through sanctification. It’s time you break that jar and walk in freedom. Christ had given you new life. You are now free from the things that once weighed you down. If you’ve been carrying them still, take time today to sit at the feet of Jesus. Break the jar and ask Him to help you go in peace and freedom from your old identity.

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