Of Love, Sacrifice, and Toilet Paper

I didn’t buy toilet paper.

I bought six pounds of rice and seven pounds of dried beans. I bought bouillon cubes and a couple extra sacks of flour. I stood at the grocery store and surveyed what was in the carts of other shoppers as I contemplated how far I could make ten cans of tuna stretch. I made a note on my grocery list to mix up a new sourdough starter when I got home. I could make bread for weeks and weeks.

Am I worried about my family having enough to eat while COVID-19 slides into our communities and church gatherings and schools? Not really. What I am concerned about is the number of elderly folks in my church who shouldn’t get out into public places and risk exposure to a disease that could kill them. So, I stood in line at Aldi and calculated how many pots of soup I could make with the dried beans over the next few weeks. I loaded my groceries on the conveyor belt and wondered about the best way to deliver food without putting someone’s health at risk. I bagged my groceries and walked them to the car thinking about disposable containers that would hold soup. I drove away with plans to ask some other women at church to help me make a plan to take care of our senior citizens.

Yesterday I was thinking about others.
But today I am thinking about us.

This morning the news was alarming. I dressed my four-year-old for preschool (they haven’t cancelled here yet) and wondered how much insulin my husband has on hand and whether or not the international travel bans would have an effect on his ability to get the drug he’s depended on since he was in middle school. Is insulin made in the US? I wondered. I’ve literally never had to think about this before.

These are strange days. When I open Facebook or Twitter on my phone, I see friends complaining about closures and friends complaining about the lack of them. I see photos of people proudly displaying their toilet paper stash and people worried about where kids will eat when the schools are closed. These are the best and worst of times because these are times when Christians must turn words into deeds.

We must ask ourselves two questions:

Are we willing to share what we have with others?
And, are we willing to trust God with our lives?

These are hard questions. Love requires sacrifice. If we share our pantries and bathroom supplies with our neighbors and church members and friends, then we have less for ourselves. When we’re reluctant to share, what are we saying about God and the value of a human life that’s not our own? And what about the things we can’t control or hoard or share? I’m thinking of those with medical conditions. My husband’s prescriptions don’t allow for him to have much extra insulin on hand. He has enough for a few weeks. After that, we pray that the pharmaceutical companies will still have plenty of insulin for people who need it. Do we trust the Lord for what we need?

It feels risky to live like this, no? In 21^st century America, we’re used to having what we need and then some. And then some more. And then more just in case. But when a pandemic reaches nearly every continent, we realize that control is precisely what we don’t have. Our choices are to panic-hoard and take care of number one, or to trust God and love others. The first option feels like the right thing to do, but the second option is the right thing to do. 

I think of the believers in Acts 2 and 4 who shared everything in common and took care of one another. I think of the Macedonian Christians who gave out of their poverty in 2 Corinthians 8.  I think of Jesus’ words in John 15:13, “No greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” And then Jesus went and laid down His life for His friends. And that includes you and me, Christian.

I’ve read a lot of articles about what we should and should not do in this time of quarantines and canceled or modified church services. I’m sure you have, too. What’s encouraging to me is that in nearly every article or post is a call for the Church to be the Church. This is our time to show the world what sacrificial love and unwavering trust in God looks like. We can share our pantry staples because Jesus died in our place to save us from a fate worse than coronavirus. We can trust God with our day-to-day living in these uncertain times because Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross means we can trust Him with our eternity. Hoarding and worry won’t save us. But love and trust will help us point an anxious world to a great Savior.

Did you know that throughout history, when epidemics occurred like the Plague of Cyprian, the Bubonic Plague, and most recently, the Ebola virus in West Africa, that Christians were often the ones to stay after physicians, leaders, and the general public fled or avoided the sick[1]? They had so much hope to offer as they cared for the sick because that hope was one that outlasted both health and disease. We have so much hope in the face of COVID-19. This is our time to stir wisdom with sacrifice and to love others because of how much we’ve been loved by Christ.

Don’t panic. Buy extra supplies within reason. Observe the government’s mandates to keep your distance as necessary to keep others healthy. But do so with loving sacrifice and trust in the Lord at the heart of your actions. 

We have so much hope in the face of COVID-19. This is our time to stir wisdom with sacrifice and love others because of how much we’ve been loved by Christ. Share on X

 

Photo by Nathália Rosa on Unsplash

[1] Source.