Wearily, she opened her eyes. She didn't want to open them. She was quite content sleeping. Batting away whoever shook her back and forth, she moaned. "What is it?"
"He's coming!"
He's coming. Swell.
He's coming...
Oh goodness. HE'S COMING!
She leapt from her makeshift bed. She needed to tend to the dying flame in her lamp. Fumbling through her belongings, she grasps frantically for her oil. Where was it?
Her eyes slid shut.
She knew right were it was. She had forgotten it. It sat in her house next to her bed.
Around her, some of the other women seemed to be experiencing the same problem. However, a number of lamp lights flickered around her.
She didn't have enough oil. What would she do?
Based on Matthew 25:1-11
I've always felt bad for the women in this parable. In my mind I'd scream, "It's not their fault the bridegroom took forever! They had oil! He took so long it ran out so blame him! It could have happened to anyone!"
Then due to their last minute rush trip to the local oil store, they arrive to the celebration late, and the bridegroom sticks his head out and says, "Go away. I don't even know who you are."
Um, well, why were they invited dude.
But this parable isn't about all the things that go wrong at weddings. This is about being prepared for whatever God does next. Even Jesus coming back.
This is a story about the people who pretend. The ones who slip by in the shadows cast from the light of God's people. The people who don't have God/Jesus/Holy Spirit in their lives. The ones who slid in because of the knowledge they've gleaned, but never applied. This parable is about those people.
And well...I still feel sorry for them. But now I'm sorry for them because they are missing out on all that God has to offer. When they realize the truth they've ignored for so long, it will be too late.
And that's heartbreaking.
My friends, don't wait. Live for God now. Let His Spirit flow in your life. Take Him everywhere you go. You'll regret it if you don't.
"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." 2 Timothy 4:2
V. Joy Palmer
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