9/16/25 Costly Worship

Takeaway: True worship often requires costly sacrifice and humility.

Opening Prayer (Tuesday)

Lord, I come before You seeking wisdom and clarity. Help me to discern Your will and make choices that honor You. Open my heart to Your truth as I spend time with You today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Reflection

When Luke introduces the unnamed woman who enters the Pharisee’s house, he immediately calls attention to two things: her reputation and her devotion. She was labeled a sinner, a reputation that followed her like a shadow. Yet, she is the one who becomes the example of true worship. She does not approach Jesus with ease or casual comfort; she comes carrying an alabaster jar of perfume. This most likely was her most valuable possession, and she pours it out at His feet. In an act of unreserved devotion, she breaks through social barriers, disregards the judgmental stares of others, and kneels in humility. Her tears fall on His feet, offered in grief, gratitude, and reverence. She wipes them with her hair, an act that was both vulnerable and socially inappropriate. In this costly act, she shows us that worship is not simply what we give to God when it is convenient; it is what we lay before Him when it costs us much.

True worship always carries a cost. For some, it is the surrender of possessions; for others, it is the relinquishing of pride or the willingness to be misunderstood by those around them. This woman’s alabaster jar represents her livelihood, her security. By pouring it out at Jesus’ feet, she declares that He is worth more than her future stability. In her tears, we see the cost of repentance, and in her perfume, we see the cost of devotion. She does not worship with what is left over, but with what is most precious. What she embodies most is that worship is surrendering.

For us, this passage calls us to ask: What is my alabaster jar? What is it that I cling to most tightly, that Christ is inviting me to lay down at His feet? It may be control, reputation, comfort, or even relationships. Costly worship means trusting Him with the very things we fear losing most, and finding in Him a joy that far outweighs the sacrifice. When we worship with humility and costly devotion, we discover, what the woman discovered, that Jesus Himself is our treasure.

Questions

How does the woman’s humility challenge your own posture in worship both privately and in community?

How might your worship become a testimony to others about the surpassing worth of Christ?

Application

Take time to identify one area of life that you tend to cling to. Prayerfully place it before Christ in surrender, asking Him to teach you what it means to treasure Him above all else. Consider practicing a concrete act of worship that feels costly, whether through generosity, forgiveness, vulnerability, or humble service.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, You are worth more than all that I possess, more than all that I fear to lose. Teach me the way of costly worship, that I might lay my very self at Your feet. May my life be a fragrant offering to You, as I learn to treasure You above all else. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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