Psalm 45:7
"You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions."
I had to think about this verse for awhile. This Psalm is a wedding Psalm, read at weddings, celebrating human marriage. But it's also an analogy for the groom, King Jesus, and His bride, us, His church. At first, I wasn't sure if there was anything too applicable for everyday life - maybe this is just a nice Psalm to read on your wedding day. But, praise the Lord, He helped me see it with new eyes.
As a bride on our wedding day, we do feel "anointed." Anointed with love, happiness, joy, hope for the future...a bride on her wedding day is in love with all things good, lovely, righteous in the world.
And a bride has an extra glow about her on her wedding day - she is and should be the most beautiful woman in the room. She has been anointed "with the oil of gladness" more than her "companions."
The church, made up of all of us - Christians, should be the same way. We should love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Hate wickedness but NOT the evil-doer. Jesus is to be our example. Jesus loved the outcasts just as much as the "accepted" - tax collectors, prostitutes, divorcees, the afflicted.
Every time I see pictures of people from Westboro Baptist Church, I want to be sick. "God Hates You," "God Is Your Enemy," "You're Going to Hell." Of course, the nut jobs get the most media attention, creating a skewed worldview of the church.
How does telling someone God hates them show a desire for loving righteousness?
Jesus didn't picket the Samaritan woman's well. He wasn't the enemy of Zaccheus. There's nothing loving about telling someone God hates them.
God. Hates. Self-Righteousness. And. Hypocrisy. Just. As. Much. As. Any. Other. Sin.
Loving righteousness also means loving the sinner.
Our arms should be open in love, not raised in a fist.
The bride, the church, US - the church is made up of US.
Stop looking at the church with fingers pointed. An old pastor of mine used to say, "When you point a finger at someone else, you always have three more pointed back at yourself."
The church is made up of individuals, and I am one of them. You are one of them. If we want to see change in the church, we must first begin to examine and change ourselves.
And what will be the result?
"Therefore..."
This is a huge arrow, a bridge connecting cause and effect. We should love righteousness and hate wickedness. And what will happen then?
We will be anointed by God Himself with the oil of gladness.
Love, true, godly love, produces gladness, produces joy.
What kind of church are people going to want to learn more about? The one that shows them love, that accepts them just as they are, not condoning the sin yet loving the sinner, which All. Of. Us. Are?
Or the one angrily raising fists, yelling, judging, jeering, condemning?
Which produces gladness? Which produces joy?
We desire His joy and blessing in our lives, but in order to have this result, we must first fulfill the first part: love righteousness, hate wickedness. Not being so filled with self-righteousness we become the wickedness.
And before we start to point out the wickedness in others, we must first confront and deal with the wickedness in ourselves.
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