Housekeeping

 

One of the biggest adjustments I had to make when I got married was mastering basic housekeeping. It wasn't so much the cleaning and cooking as maintaining a constant supply of everything. Perhaps because I was a full-time college student, I wasn't paying much attention to it. I found myself constantly making emergency trips to the store for little things, like we were always running out of paper towels and toilet paper. So, I had to figure out a system to keep track of necessities such as paper towels, toothpaste, laundry detergent, shampoo, and so on.

Life is so much easier nowadays with services like Instacart and Amazon subscriptions. Basic housekeeping can be effortlessly managed with weekly or monthly subscriptions delivered right to your doorstep.  

I often think about how much easier we have it now than any previous generation. While studying the Old Testament, I learned that the priests had significant housekeeping duties that they constantly monitored in the temple as well. One vital role instituted by God for the Old Testament priests was to maintain the supply of oil and keep the temple lamps burning (Exodus 27:20). People dedicated pure olive oil to the temple, and it was the priests' duty to ensure that the lamps were always supplied with oil and kept burning.

I suddenly realized how much this relates to us as New Testament believers and what God calls His priesthood. We are called to maintain the lamps of our inner temple—the heart. Jesus shares a parable in the New Testament about ten virgins, referring to five as wise and five as foolish. The wise virgins had oil for their lamps, while the foolish ones did not. I believe the wise were considered 'wise' because they possessed biblical wisdom and truth, which served as the oil that kept their faith lamps burning. As New Testament priests, we are called to keep our faith lamps burning with pure oil—wisdom and truth—that can be endlessly sourced directly from our time in the Word.

There is desirable treasure, And oil in the dwelling of the wise...(Pr.21:20)