Married To Jesus (Part Two)

“At Midnight”. This would have been considered an unusual and therefore unexpected time for the groom to come. Jesus said in Matt. 24:44, “So you also must be ready, because the son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

When the announcement came the five who were not prepared wanted to get some oil from the ones who were. But the five who were prepared would not share; could not spare. This shows that each of us need to be prepared, we can’t count on someone else to make us prepared. We can help each other be prepared but in the end each of us are responsible to make sure our lamps always have plenty of oil in them.

Then we see the sad fate of the five who weren’t prepared. They went away and got some oil but by the time they got back it was too late; they had waited too long. They thought they were safe and when it became evident they were wrong it was too late. Unfortunately, there are plenty of unprepared people out there. They’re told what they need to do in order to be prepared but they won’t listen. They will be like the five and think they already have what they need. Or they will procrastinate thinking there is plenty of time to get prepared.

There is a fable about three apprentice devils that were coming to the earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan about their plans to tempt and to ruin men. The first said, "I will tell them there is no God." Satan said, "That will only deceive a few since most believe there is a God." The second said, "I will tell men there is no hell." Satan answered, "No, for that idea will produce no better results than the first.” “I know,” said the third, "I will tell men there is no hurry." "Ah, yes,” said Satan, "Go, and you will ruin ‘em by the thousands." The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time.

Heb. 3:12-15. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” We usually just attribute this to those who aren’t saved to not ignore the Lord’s call to salvation. Although that does apply, this is really a warning to Christians to not ignore the voice of the Lord. This calls for us to not get lazy, to not procrastinate; to not ignore the Lord speaking to us to the point of hardening our heart against him. If we continue through the process of hardening our hearts our lamps will eventually run out of oil. If we don’t do anything about it by the time we meet our groom we will be left out of the party; left outside. Inside there will be sounds of laughter and joy; outside there will only be sounds of weeping and sorrow.

The problem is some people think that they can rest on their laurels. They think just because they were baptized they are good to go; just sit back and wait for the Lord’s return. Or, they think the bare minimum is sufficient. Go to church once in a while, read my bible every now and then. Throw a couple bucks in the offering plate if I can. In this we are having a relationship with God on our terms. In this we are slowly being drained of our oil and we either don’t realize it or we don’t care.