Are you living ready?

AS WE see events unfold around us daily, many of us may believe that we are prepared for what is to come. Jesus spoke to this in Matthew 25 when He told the parable of the 10 virgins.

In the parable, there is no visible difference between them. All the bridesmaids had similar circumstances. All 10 were properly dressed and had an invitation to be a part of the bridal party. They were in the right place, with the right people; they all had lamps and knew they would need oil and had every intention of getting it. There was, however, a big difference. It had to do with their attitude towards being prepared, and their perception of preparation.

Although each of them had her lamp ready to celebrate, only five of them had oil. Those without oil didn’t intend to miss the opportunity. They missed the opportunity because they didn’t do the necessary thing when they had the time to. “3: The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, 4: but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil.” Matthew 25:3 (NLT).

When they were waiting for the groom, they could have got the oil then, but they chose instead to wait for the last minute, or they expected Him to come at time that was more convenient to them.

The problem with many Christians isn’t that we don’t know what God wants us to do; nor is it that we don’t have good intention towards the things of God. The problem is that we want to postpone full commitment until later. We sort of have a commitment; we are in the right place with the right people, but feel that obeying God involves too much sacrifice and we attempt to avoid it for as long as possible.

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Sometimes when others come alongside us and try to correct us, they say foolish things like “Don’t judge me”, or “I don’t believe God is like this or that”, or “everybody sins”. We try to do the bare minimum. The virgins had the lamp, but not the oil which was the key ingredient. Waiting until the last minute to be ready to meet Jesus is not wise. Postponing our good intentions can permanently keep us from the Lord’s presence. We can miss the opportunity to get the oil we know we need.

The oil for our lamps is a picture of our relationship with God, through Jesus Christ. It is submitting to the Lordship of Christ, and accepting His love and grace, and allowing Him to transform our lives. It’s taking God and His Word seriously, and living a life that honours and imitates Christ, and displays godly character. “At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’ 7: “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. 8: Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’ 9: “But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’” Matthew 25:6-9 (NLT).

All the virgins woke up and began to prepare their lamps. But the foolish virgins discovered the shocking fact that their lamps had burned out. They became frantic because they saw that they were not prepared. They didn’t have the oil which was necessary to burn their lamps. They found out in the hardest way imaginable that it was too late. Are you living ready?