Choose Love over Fear: One Year Bible Reading for February 7

 Today we read from the One Year Bible in the following passages:

Exodus 26:1-27:21
Matthew 25:1-30
Psalm 31:1-8
Proverbs 8:1-11

And I want to talk about the gospel. Jesus tells the story of ten virgins who have lamps. In the story, five of them are wise and keep their lamps ready with plenty of oil. But five of them are foolish and they don't have their lamps oiled and trimmed and ready to go. The bridegroom shows up and the foolish virgins want to borrow some oil from the wise virgins, and the wise virgins reply, "No. There MIGHT not be enough oil for us both. Go and buy some from the oil seller." (Emphasis mine.) But the foolish virgins aren't able to get it all done in time and they are cast out into the gnashing teeth.

Now, the primary reason Jesus told this message is to tell us to be ready. We need to live every day like it's the day we'll meet Jesus, because we won't know when He's coming so we need to live holy, loving lives every day. Good lesson.

But I think there's another, subtle message we can learn from this story. The wise virgins, I think, were not very loving. They didn't give the foolish virgins any oil because they were AFRAID that they wouldn't have enough for both of them. They forgot the story in the Old Testament when the widow just kept getting oil from the jar to make food for her and her son AND for Elijah (or it might have been Elisha, I haven't read it lately enough to be sure). If we give in love, God blesses us and we find we have enough for everyone. If we're stingy, we might find that we don't even have enough for ourselves.

So let's learn the primary meaning of the gospel and be wise, like the wise virgins. But let's also learn the secondary truth found there - that we don't want to be stingy with what God gives us. Let's choose love over fear. That little morsel of truth comes in handy when trying to decide what to do regarding Covid. Should I wear a mask? If doing so is what love requires to make my neighbor feel safe, then maybe I should. Should I force people to get vaccinated when they're worried that it might have serious side effects? Maybe love asks that I am patient with their concerns. What is love asking you to do today?

God, thanks for teaching us to give in love.