My granddaughter loves olives. I mean loves olives. She spent the past nine months going to school here. She would often run by her MiMi and PaPa’s house for lunch or supper. I don’t think she ever opened my refrigerator that she did not find olives. When she is visiting that is a staple.
This weekend she moved back home to finish her schooling. No more olive binges for a while. All of our grand babies are so precious. Thinking about them, watching them grow and find their places in this world brings PaPa and I such joy and excitement. Having the spontaneous visits from our granddaughter was a highlight to our days.
I opened the refrigerator tonight and there were the last of the olives. Reminds me of Jesus. Olives were the source of the anointing oil used throughout scripture. They go through a pretty difficult ordeal before they bring forth their pure oil. In the ancient of days the olives were placed in a hewn out stone. A large, round, rolling stone with a hole in its center, could be rolled around inside the hewn out stone. A timber or log was placed in that hole and then walked round the circular stone, crushing the olives. The crushed olives gave a reddish liquid. A paste formed from crushing and that paste was smeared on burlap or fabric mats. The mats were stacked one on the other and then “pressed” severely by the Gethsemane or “oil press.” This intense pressure brings forth more liquid which separates from the paste. It is pure olive oil. The remaining paste was used for making soap. Note that the best and purest oil comes from the most pressure. And as a reminder, just as the olive gives off the reddish liquid upon crushing, our Savior was crushed under the weight of the sins He was to carry, until He sweat drops of blood.
We experience times of pressure. When our beloved are ill. When sickness comes to us. When our children experience difficult days. When injury befalls us, suddenly placing us in a holding pattern of recovery. We let go of jobs or jobs let go of us. We find that friendships we thought would last forever are suddenly gone. Financial issues visit. Marriages end. Death takes those so precious and dear to us. Those are just a few of the intense life pressures that we experience.
It is hard to understand how such pressures in life bring forth light and spiritual blessings. At the time pressure is applied, we cannot understand the reason for our pain or the pain we see our loved ones enduring. How could a good God allow such pressure? Such stress and uncertainty in our lives?
Then we remember our Jesus. He knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Garden of the Oil Press. It was in a place where olives were pressed for sacred oil. He too was pressed with the coming torture, humiliation and death. He did not run from His situation. He accepted God’s will. He carried the crushing weight of the sins of this world upon His body. He endured.
We all know that though He suffered greatly, tortured beyond belief, humiliated before men and crucified between thieves. He triumphantly rose from a crushing pressure of His body and soul to be seen by His disciples and at least five hundred others. He was walking, talking, eating and handing the mission for the salvation of the world over to His disciples. Why? To make sure that all have the opportunity to believe in Him, live and rise again to life eternal.
~Thought For Today~
We all are hard pressed. There will be a time all will experience the crushing of our spirit. We learn to grow in Christ with each pressing event in our life. It will bring forth the oil of grace. We are to extend forgiveness and grace to others as Christ has done for us. Pressure will draw the light of Christ from within us. No matter what happens. No matter what pressure we must endure. Just as with Christ, it will bring forth grace, purity and light. It will perfect us in the likeness of Christ.
~Scriptures For Today~
Ephesians 5:1-2
5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (NASB)
1 Peter 2:21
21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, (NASB)
Matthew 5:48
48 Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (NASB)
1 John 4:17
17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. (NASB)
Hebrews 12:2
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NASB)
~Prayer For Today~
Hello Father! We gain strength and courage from the pressing our Savior suffered for us. We pray that the pressures we experience bring forth the love of Christ, the grace of Christ and the light of Christ. Perfect us now Father. Forgive us of our sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
©2015 Kathy Ledbetter. All Rights Reserved.