I was ministering to a friend about the "Healing Balm of Gilead" today and I found this great web page regarding the subject. Apparently the information shared at this site came from another source. (When God Speaks Ministry).One of my favorite bits of information that was shared here was about how the healing balm could not flow until the alabaster box was broken. Think about it. We are the box that holds the healing balm (Jesus and His Spirit). We need to be broken for the oil to flow out of us.
The writer made an analogy to pesto. Kind of out there but the point was communicated quite appropriately. Pesto is the blending of many flavors to create a new substance. That is what makes the pesto taste so good. All those ingredients separately don't render the same flavor and taste to our pallet as they do re-created as a new creation...pesto. It is the smashing of the ingredients, the crushing, squeezing, refining, purification that creates this new taste. So it is with us. We need to be crushed, broken, released, joined and formed together to make a new flavor...to bring us to full value as well.
We are called to be this for one another. We are to be used to be a healing balm that can bring healing to the church, the body, our families, our world. We need to become a sweet perfume, a honey-like medicine that flows out and sticks to others. We can only flow out of the overflow of our hearts. We can't give what we don't have. Fill us Lord Jesus for your work. Help us endure our own sorrow to be ready to minister to others.