05/30/2026
The Woman With the Alabaster Box...she has been resonating with me so deeply lately.
Some people carry gifts. Others carry oil. Heaven has always placed a greater value on oil than on gifting.
The woman with the alabaster box entered a room filled with religious leaders, opinions, and spectators. She was not invited to speak. She was not recognized for a position. She held no title that day. Yet she carried something they did not, oil. Before she ever broke the box, she had first been broken herself.
“And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.”
— Luke 7:37-38
Religion saw a sinner, but Jesus saw a worshiper.
The room was filled with people who knew theology, but only one person carried extravagant devotion. She was willing to be misunderstood, judged, talked about, and humiliated publicly if it meant she could pour out her love at the feet of Jesus.
This is the kind of worship Heaven still seeks, not polished performance, not religious appearance, and not carefully controlled devotion that never costs us anything. Heaven is looking for worship that is willing to be broken open before the Lord.
The alabaster box was valuable. Costly. Precious. Yet she considered nothing too expensive when compared to the worthiness of Christ.
Many believers desire resurrection power while protecting their alabaster box. They want intimacy without surrender, anointing without sacrifice, and oil without breaking. But the fragrance was not released until the box was broken.
There are women in this hour carrying hidden alabaster boxes. Years of tears. Years of surrender. Years of private obedience. Years of hidden suffering that nobody else understands.
The Lord is asking, "Will you break it before Me? Will you surrender what you have been protecting? Will you pour out what the world says you should preserve?"
There is a fragrance released through surrender that cannot be manufactured through talent. It is born in secret places where love becomes greater than self-preservation and where devotion becomes more important than reputation.
The room criticized her worship, but Jesus defended it.
The room saw waste, but Jesus saw worth.
The room measured the cost, but Jesus received the offering.
And still today, extravagant devotion makes religious people uncomfortable because true worship is rarely dignified.
David danced before the Lord.
Hannah travailed in prayer.
Mary sat at His feet.
And this woman wept openly as she poured out what was most precious upon Jesus.
There comes a point when love for Christ outweighs the fear of people's opinions. When that happens, worship becomes costly.
The greatest threat to intimacy is not persecution; it is self-preservation. It is the desire to remain unbroken, untouched, and unpoured.
Yet every vessel God uses deeply eventually learns the beauty of surrender. The fragrance that filled the house was not produced by striving. It was released through brokenness. Some of the sweetest fragrances in the Kingdom still come from lives that have been crushed, surrendered, and offered completely to the Lord.
“And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.”
— John 12:3
Women of God, do not fear the breaking.
Do not fear surrender.
Do not fear pouring your life out before Jesus.
For what is poured out in worship is never wasted.
The world may call it excessive. Religion may call it unnecessary. But Heaven calls it beautiful.
And long after the box is broken, the fragrance remains.
Christie Williams
