❤️ First Love Weekly #13: A Small Jar of Olive Oil

In 2 Kings 4, a widow who is at the risk of losing her two boys as slaves— due to her late husband’s debts— approaches Elisha the prophet for help.

In response, Elisha asks the widow what she has in her house.

“‘Your servant has nothing there at all,’ she said, ‘except a small jar of olive oil’” (2 Kings 4:2).

In the widow’s eyes, she had nothing to offer. Nothing but a small jar of olive oil.

But little did she know, that is all God needed.

Per Elisha’s instruction, the widow gathers empty jars from all her neighbors and miraculously pours olive oil into each of them, one by one— eventually finding herself with enough olive oil to pay off the debts and be set free.

The Bible often refers to God’s people as jars or vessels.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul refers to himself and his fellow believers as “jars of clay” that contains the glorious light of God:

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Cor. 4:7). Here, Paul is referring to the treasure we hold as “the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

Though we may not recognize much in ourselves, we contain within us the light that can brighten those around us and the precious olive oil that can be poured into an infinite number of jars.

So, I encourage you, my beloved, to approach God for help— as the widow approached Elisha— so that the olive oil within you can overflow unto others.

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

With love, Jae

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)

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