And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Romans 5:5
As Israel’s first high priest, Aaron was the first to receive the application of the holy anointing oil that God had prescribed for the priests of the tabernacle. That was a very impressive oil, and its fragrance was unique and powerful. Just consider its ingredients: ‘Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin’ – Exodus 30:23-24. And Aaron received a generous portion of it, enough that when it was poured on his head, it ran down his face and all the way down to the bottom hem of his robes (Psalm 133:2). Anyone who was near him could not fail to notice the fragrance of that oil. His sons received a smaller portion for their anointing, but nobody else in Israel was allowed to smell like they did. It was unique, just like the love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts.
We could speak for weeks on the topic of the love of God and never exhaust the subject. The love of God, the hymn writer declares, is greater far than tongue or pen could ever tell. None ever did or could love as God loves. And it is that love that God has not only bestowed on us, but has also declared that we should show forth in our lives. Just as the Israelites could identify Aaron by the wonderful aroma of the holy anointing oil, so the world around us should be able to identify us as Christians by the shedding abroad of the love of God that He has placed in our hearts. God knows that it is beyond our power to love as He loves. That is why He has given to us the Agency through which His love will flow.
God has given to us the Holy Ghost, His divine presence dwelling within each of us. The Spirit identifies us as God’s children. The Spirit enables us to be victorious in our Christian lives. The Spirit teaches and guides us as we yield ourselves to Him. A critical part of His teaching and guiding is enabling and encouraging us to display the love of God. The shedding abroad refers to the appreciation of the love of God in our own souls. And that is important. But it also refers to the display of that love to others. Unreserved and unconditional love will be displayed to our fellow saints, to our family members, to all we encounter during our daily lives. It is not an easy love for us to display, because it is not natural to us. But it is natural to God, and that is why we must allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in our display of His love.
May we strive to allow the love of God to be shed abroad in our hearts, because it is a precious privilege, even more precious than Aaron’s holy anointing oil. -Jim MacIntosh