The Shut Door

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish and five were wise.  The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.  The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.  The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.  At midnight the cry rang out, ‘Here comes the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him.’ Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’  “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.”  But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.”  Matthew 25:1-10

 

I hope you have been following our journey through this parable.  If not, feel free to go back to the first post “Are You Ready for the Groom? Part I.” Otherwise, I feel sure you can still glean from the passage of Scripture found in verse 10.

The five foolish virgins appear, on average, to be attempting to do right.  They have gone out to meet the bridegroom, they have taken their lamps with them; when they realize that they will need to purchase oil, they rushed to the store.  Their performance is good enough, right?  Especially if you grade on a curve.  But as this passage makes abundantly clear, the 5 foolish maidens miss the arrival of the bridegroom, and not only that, the door is shut to deter their entrance to the wedding.

Crystal Lewis had a song back in the 90’s that was quite popular “People Get Ready Jesus Is Coming.”  The words have been ringing in my ears more and more as of late.  Notice in this passage that the ones who were ready were the ones able to go in.  Those that were trying to get ready?  No deal.  Some things in life truly are black or white; right or wrong; true or false.  We, who live in the western culture and mindset, often live our lives in shades of gray, picking and choosing what we believe to be right.  But when it comes to the things of God, we do not get to choose from a buffet of the Truth of God.  We are either right, or we are wrong.  We are ready, or we are unprepared and left.

The overarching truth of this passage applies directly to being ready to meet the Lord in the air at the time of Rapture or at the moment of death; but another truth- even for today- also applies here.  Many of the opportunities in life that the Lord provides for us are time-sensitive.  If we take advantage of the opportunity, it is to our advantage, if we delay walking through the open door, we forfeit the chance.  The Lord has dealt with me over the years in the area of disobedience.  One time he dealt so strongly with me that I heard him say, “To procrastinate is to walk in disobedience.”  Wow.  That was pretty hard.  In the South, we are often ‘fixing to start supper’ or ‘fixing to make a phone call’.  ‘Fixing to’ means we have the intention, we just have not implemented it yet.  The bad news is that there are some things that the window of time will expire on, before we carry out our best intentions.  That is why Christians have to learn that when the Lord speaks; directs; opens a door; or gives a command, we must heed it immediately.  We are not guaranteed tomorrow- or even this afternoon- to obey.

Is there some area of obedience you have been procrastinating on?  Do you have an apology to make?  A debt to settle?  Whatever it is, I encourage you in the Lord- do not delay!  Live without the possibility of regret as often as you are able.

Dear Lord, help me to live ready.  Help me to be quick to obey your voice and not rely on my own thoughts or feelings.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri

Can I Have Some of Yours?

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish and five were wise.  The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.  The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.  The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.  At midnight the cry rang out, ‘Here comes the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him.’ Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’  Matthew 25:1-8

 

Have you ever had one of those friends?  You know the ones- they want you for what you can offer them and are done with you when you have nothing to offer them?  Have you ever been one of those friends?  We all have probably found ourselves on either side of this equation, if we are honest enough to admit it.

This passage is so sad because all ten of the virgins appeared to have what they needed.  But only five had “the goods” that they were able to make a light to find themselves to the groom.  The wise ones have more than they needed.  More of the oil of the Holy Spirit than they needed for that day.  A wise Christian gets as full of the Holy Spirit as possible.  We never know in a given day what kinds of demand will be placed on the anointing of the Spirit in our lives and therefore, we must have more than enough. 

Another thing that always strikes me about the passage is how wonderful it would be if the wise had enough to share with the others.  Obviously, as this parallels the end times, we cannot bring someone else into the rapture by sharing with then.  But up until the time that we go in and the door is shut (figuratively speaking) we need to be sharing with others what we have.  When we share, we inspire others to get their own oil and be ready when the time comes that they must have it or miss out.

When I read this parable I am always arrested by the sadness of it all.  The five foolish were smarter than so many others- they were there, they had brought their lamps, they were hanging with the wise ones.  They had it all together…almost.  Almost is just not enough when it comes to the things of the Spirit.  When the day comes that the church is rejoined with Christ, there will be so many of our loved ones left behind.  So many that almost made it. They came to church.  They joined Sunday school, they carried a Bible and even forwarded Christian related emails and Facebook statuses.  But they did not quite have the relationship with the Lord that is needed.

Our time is so short.  Let us look for opportunities to share the light, to share the oil, to share the faith; one day soon it will be too late.

Dear Lord, help me to be evangelically minded.  Help me lead others to you.  Help me have enough anointing, Spirit and victory to share with others. In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri

 

Are You Read for the Groom? ( Part I)

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish and five were wise.  The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.  The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.  The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.”  Matthew 25:1-5

 

This is a familiar passage of scripture often used to teach about living in readiness of Christ’s return.  In the Life Application Study Bible, the commentary explains the wedding day custom of the time:  “On the wedding day the bridegroom went to the bride’s house for the ceremony, then the bride and groom, along with a great procession, returned to the groom’s house where a feast took place, often lasting a full week.  These ten virgins were waiting to join the procession, and they hoped to take part in the wedding banquet…”  As you can see, being ready to go to the party was a huge social event in those days.  To miss out was a huge disappointment for a young virgin- and quite instructional to us today.

In recent months, my heart has been so stirred about what the Bible terms “the end days” and the rapture of the church- where the Lord calls the saved to meet him in the air.  For those of us who have asked Jesus into our hearts as our personal Lord and Savior, we look forward to that time with mixed emotions.  We are eager to go out and join him, but of course, we do not want any of our unsaved friends, family, neighbors, etc., to be left out of the celebration.  We want to avoid seeing anyone that we care about left behind.  As Christians, we are mandated to care about every human being; thus, we look to this day with eager anticipation for ourselves and dread for those who have not made preparations to go.

In later posts, we will discuss the return of the “groom”, but for the purpose of today I want to pause in this passage where the Scripture ended.  Ten maidens had grabbed their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five thought ahead and took the oil that made the lamps useful.  Five foolishly failed to plan and had lamps with no ability to use them.  We know that Jesus put major emphasis on Him being “the light of the world” and us being His light in the world today.  All the virgins, at a glance, appeared to have the same potential to illuminate.  But upon further inspection, five were a farce.  They had the appearance, but no ability.  How many of us “Christians” claim the name of Christ, but fail to truly have the goods?  How many of us attend church, speak the language, have five Bibles, but are without the oil in our lives?  In the Bible, oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.  The five wise had the presence of the oil, or the Holy Spirit, thus they were able to light their path to lead them to the groom.

In these evil days that we are living in, it is going to take a little more preparation to keep our lights shining bright.  We are going to have to make sure that we bathe ourselves in the precious Holy Spirit of God and that we know our Word inside and out.  People are sick, beat-down and hurting.  What do we have to offer them?  Are we carriers of the light?  Or are we false advertisers, a mere charade?

The days of easy living for Christians is probably behind us.  Things are tough.  The darkness is growing.  But a pin-prick of light in a pitch-black night will draw all eyes to it.  Are you lighting up for Jesus?

Dear Lord, have mercy on the church.  Forgive us for blending in, giving in, and extinguishing our light.  Help us to shine for You.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri