The gospel and.... moisturiser?

This guest post is written by Sam Cutforth, a young man with a great passion for the gospel... and possibly cosmetic products?

You made wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
    and bread to strengthen man's heart.

Psalm 104:15

Now this is a bit of a weird one for a guy I know! but when I was reading Psalm 104 a psalm (worth reading) all about God providentially causing things to happen to keep this world working eg making grass grow and water to gush forth from streams, I read   “He created oil to make his face shine” and I thought, that means God has given us moisturizer! Which I’m sure many women are thankful for and see it as a great kindness on the part of our loving and caring God as I am sure it is. But it also (and more importantly) shows us Gods wonderful grace and in a very small way the gospel.

Justin Beiber says 'A real man looks after his skin'

So how? Well one of the consequences of the fall and sin was death and decay. Our bodies wear out, look ugly get old, dry up, get wrinkles and eventually die. The punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23) so because of our sin we deserve to decay get wrinkles and eventually die. HOWEVER God has graciously provided for us things in creation to reserve and slow down the effects of sin. In this case natural oils to make our faces shine.

Chuck Norris doesnt need moisturiser,
Moisturiser needs Chuck Norris

However this is only one small way we see Gods grace and it reminds us of what God has done on a much larger scale and more fully on the cross. The effects of sin do not show up only on our faces they show up in God’s records as well, we are all greatly in debt to God be he has forgiven us all our sins, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us. This he set aside nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14

So hopefully next time you put moisturizer on your face you can thank God for this small grace he has given and be reminded of the graced we see so fully displayed on the cross.