1. MYRRH – Everyone immediately thinks of this one first, probably because it was one of the gifts given Jesus at his birth, also because it is the ointment put on His body in preparation for burial. It was also the fragrance the king put on the handle when the Shulamite wouldn’t get up to open the door for him.
2. SPIKENARD – This was the costly ointment in the alabaster box Mary of Bethany broke over Jesus’ head and had the aroma fill the house, then wiped His feet with her hair. Judas’ criticism of the money not going to the poor? Jesus practically disregarded his words, saying, “Leave her alone; she is Mine.” I’d love to be defended like that! I forget: He does.
3. HYSSOP – “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean,” David said. God doesn’t demand we become flawless jewels, just clean; what a merciful, accepting, wise, loving Father! This one made me super-happy because so often I feel like I haven’t done a “thorough” job, and God has to remind me sometimes I try to be a perfectionist when He tells us to clean up, not perfect up.
The following isn’t compact, as it hasn’t been thought through yet or polished in any way but pretty much put into writing as soon as the thoughts came:
l (Yes, “be ye perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” is the aim, but what we actually do in going about to attain that end is to be clean!)
(The human “perfectionist”, if you really examine the walk, often neglects the mundane discipline of cleaning for “more meaningful” duty. This Christian is actually blind to his own lack of holiness! Yes, this is pointing its finger at me.)
l (Some mistake God’s mercy and longsuffering of the sinner as his acceptance of their sin. His abhorrence of sin does not change. But sinful man will never completely comprehend how a perfectly pure God can tolerate wickedness at the same time, so many finite computers say we need to be accepting of others’ weaknesses. This is NOT, however, a right conclusion…
This is very difficult to put down in writing. Limited human beings CANNOT completely duplicate what an unlimited God does, including love “wholly”—I still don’t know how to put it.
l We have to, as humans on this side of glorification, love the people for following God, hate them for sinning; do the same in our own lives: be recklessly intolerant of sin to any degree; and uncompromisingly, hurryingly move towards all that is godly…as “extreme” as people may accuse it to be, the older I get, the more I am persuaded that it is never half as much as it ought to be, and no human being will ever die feeling he overdid it, in fact, EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING, once he hits the spirit world of eternity, will think, “Why did I waste so much time on frivolities?!” It’ll be too late then to do anything.
l But Our Fairest Lord Jesus will then wipe every tear from every eye and let us know it is all right; He has paved the way for existence in good forever and ever!
Anyway, this started out with Sweet-smelling Myrrh. I think it’s ending up Life-giving Water.
