The Weight and the Oil

When I visited Nazareth Village, I watched a demonstration of an ancient olive press. As the process was explained, the Lord began to speak something deeply personal to my heart.

After the olives were crushed, the paste was placed into baskets and stacked beneath the press. During the first pressing, very little additional weight was used. The weight of the baskets themselves released the first oil - the clearest, purest and most valuable oil.

This was the quality of oil reserved for sacred purposes, especially for keeping the lamp burning in God’s sanctuary:

“Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning.”
—Exodus 27:20

For the second pressing, more weight was added. This produced oil suitable for food, medicine, perfumes and cosmetics.

During the third pressing, the greatest weight was applied to extract whatever remained. This oil contained more sediment and was generally used for household lamps and soap-making. Even the remaining olive pulp could be dried and used as fuel.

As I watched, the Lord impressed this truth upon my heart:

The greater the  weight placed upon the olives, the lower the quality of the oil that came forth.

Many people sincerely love God and faithfully serve Him, but they are carrying weights that Jesus never placed upon them - the weight of human expectations, religious performance, comparison, competition, fear of disappointing others, the need to prove their calling and responsibilities God never assigned.

They are still producing oil, but it may be flowing through exhaustion, anxiety, resentment or self-effort. There may be more activity, yet less purity; more programs, yet less presence; more outward service, yet less inward intimacy with God.

God is not merely looking for the greatest quantity of ministry activity. He desires pure oil - oil that flows from surrender, intimacy and dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said:

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me… For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
—Matthew 11:29–30

Jesus does give us a yoke, but it is His yoke. It is perfectly fitted to the calling He has given us. When we are yoked with Christ, we do not carry the assignment alone. His grace, strength and presence enable us to accomplish what He has called us to do.

This does not mean that believers will never experience trials or pressure. God can use testing to deepen our surrender and strengthen our faith. Gethsemane itself means “oil press.” Under unimaginable pressure, Jesus released the purest expression of obedience: “Not My will, but Yours be done.”

But there is a difference between God-ordained pressure that draws us into deeper dependence and human-imposed pressure that drives us into striving. Religious pressure says, “Do more so that you will be accepted.” Jesus says, “Abide in Me, and fruit will come from that relationship.”

We must therefore ask ourselves:

Whose weight am I carrying?

Did Jesus place this responsibility upon me, or did I accept it because I feared disappointing someone?

Am I serving from the overflow of intimacy, or am I being pressed by guilt, comparison and human expectations?

Perhaps the Lord is inviting us to remove some stones—to release assignments He never gave, expectations He never placed upon us, and burdens He never asked us to carry.

God desires the first and purest oil for His lamp. He is not asking us to manufacture anointing through pressure. He calls us to stay close to Him so the oil of the Holy Spirit can flow freely and keep His light burning.

God desires the quality of our oil more than the quantity of our activity. The purest oil flows when surrender replaces striving, and we serve beneath the gentle yoke of Jesus.

Suganthi Dewald