ALABASTER PRAISE

Mixed Media Oil Painting on Birchwood 48”x48” Contact for Price of Original & Availability

A critic once challenged a compassionate prison reformer who believed deeply in the men he served. “Don't you know that a leopard cannot change its spots?” The reformer smiled and replied, “Perhaps. But I do not work with leopards. I work with men, and men change their spots every day.”

The beauty of that story is that he saw something in those men that Jesus sees in you and me. He looked beyond their mistakes, their labels, and their past and saw a beloved child of God with divine worth and an eternal identity. That's what Jesus saw in the woman who brought her alabaster offering too. While everyone else saw her past, He saw her heart. Her sacrifice was so much more than breaking open an alabaster vessel. It was the public breaking open of her heart.

With breathtaking humility, she knelt no higher than the dust beneath her, surrounded by people who knew her sins and were ready to condemn her. Yet she poured out everything she had. That is the miracle of the gospel. When we bring Him our broken and contrite hearts, He is the One who binds them up. He is the One who makes all things new. He is the One who transforms us into new creatures in Christ.

Oh, the joy. Oh, the praise.

It is never too late.

This is what happens when a heart is made new.

“Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.” — Luke 7:47