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Oil to make your face shine

Muriel Larson

When my neighbour Evelyn smiles, her face glows, and her eyes twinkle. Even though she is now almost 80, she goes to the hospital several days a week. She cuddles newborn babies. She gently massages the little heads and wee feet of “preemies” who are too small to be handled. She delivers various things for the doctors and nurses. She takes patients for tests and examinations, comforting their fears along the way. She delivers flowers and newspapers to patients, smiling and chatting with them. She feeds patients, and finds opportunities to point them to the Lord. On Fridays, she goes to an adult day care centre, where she teaches a Bible class.

What impels my neighbour to do all these things? She is full of the Holy Spirit and the love He gives her for others.

Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, and it’s a good analogy. Oil keeps machinery working smoothly and keeps it from breaking down. It reduces friction. The Holy Spirit bestows on us His fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:26). The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to many wonderful spiritual truths. When we present our bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord, as Romans 12:1 charges us to do, then we are transformed by the Spirit. The oil of the Spirit filling us not only makes our faces shine with joy, but makes it possible for others to see Jesus in us in the Christ-like way we live.

Muriel Larson lives in Greenville, S.C.

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Last modified January 31, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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