During my childhood, I, my sisters and my cousins would spend our summer holidays at my grandpa’s. I have so many fun memories from those days. We were 9 of us and quite a handful for our grandparents to handle. One of the memories is of my grandpa’s love. We were a naughty lot and we would do everything to avoid applying oil to our heads. The Chennai heat and humidity and our thick black hair meant we had to do everything we could to cool our bodies down and tame our unruly mane. Grandpa knew we would never apply enough oil to our heads so he took it upon himself to do the honors. He would seat all of us down and pour a huge amount of fresh coconut oil on all of our heads. He wouldn’t be satisfied unless our heads dripped with oil. The smell of the coconut oil would fill the room and we would try our best to escape. We dreaded the oil time. But there was wisdom behind his action and a lot of love. He knew our energy packed bodies needed the extra cooling effect from the oil.
This verse comes to my mind when I think of my grandpa’s love. Incidentally, Psalms 23 was my grandpa’s favorite chapter from the Bible.
He anoints my head with oil and my cup overflows. Psalms 23:5
God, like my grandpa, loves to anoint our heads with oil. His anointing shows how much He loves us. I did a bit of reading on anointing. In the Biblical days, Kings and Priests were anointed. So when God anoints us, He anoints us into kingship and priesthood. In Jesus, we become God’s children, prince and princess of God our King. In Jesus, we become priests, made holy by the sacrifice of Jesus, to knock on heaven’s door to intercede for people hurting around us. The most amazing thing is that God annoints us, not because we love Him, but because He loves us.