THE PARABLE OF TEN VIRGINS

_“... The virgins who were ready went in with Him to the wedding banquet.  And the door was shut.”(Matthew 25: 10)_

In today’s text we read of the ten virgins.  All these ten virgins of this wedding feast had brought lamps and they had some oil in them but five of them - the wise virgins had brought extra oil just in case the groom might delay  they could refill their lamps.  As the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.  Even the best of Christians sometimes fall asleep in their vigilance in following the Lord, however Paul wrote in IThessalonians 5: 5,6 about how we should be careful to be alert and not to fall asleep.  Commenting upon the importance of being watchful from Revelation 16: 15, “Blessed is he who stays awake”,  Spurgeon once wrote about how we must be careful not to find ourselves falling asleep while serving Jesus.  “I fear that the Christian Church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and silken days than in those rough times.  We must be awake now for we traverse the enchanted ground,  and are most likely to fall asleep, unless our faith in Jesus be a reality and our love to Jesus a vehement flame.” So,  as the ten virgins dozed off to sleep, while waiting for the bridegroom’s return, the little bit of oil had been used up in the lamps of the foolish virgins.  However, the wise virgins had extra supply for their lamps and thus refilled their lamps and were ready to proceed with the bridegroom to the wedding feast.  The foolish virgins asked for little oil from the wise ones, but were denied because the wise virgins had enough oil only for themselves.  So as the foolish virgins went to the shop to buy the oil, it was too late to join the procession. So they missed it, and the door of the wedding feast was shut.

Dear friends, Jesus tells us through this parable that we need to be always on the alert; be diligent to keep our hearts pure for Christ.  This alone will ensure that we will be ready when Christ returns.  We need to be  living each day as if the Lord were to return that day, for if we are not doing that then the Lord will come at a day when we least expect it and it will be too late for us to repent and get our hearts right with Christ.

PRAYER:    Dear Lord, let my lamp be always filled with the oil.  Let me be always alert so that Your coming will not be a shock to me.  Help me to keep my heart pure by meditating on Your precepts and let my love be a burning flame always.  Let my faith in You increase day by day.  Amen.