Matthew 25:1-13
“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 ones, 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’s 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.
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
God has been pressing Matthew 25 on me, specifically the parable of the ten virginas. The piece that resonated especially to me today is verse 9 "'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.'" I have always been taught that this is about salvation, but today I am realizing there is enough salvation for everyone if they would accept it. This is not about salvation. This is about working until Christs return. We need to keep pressing forward and working hard. The economy is becoming heavy for all of us. Israel is becoming heavy. Just in my family, I used to be able to support myself and my two kids on one job. Now, I have to go to the food bank weekly because I can not afford groceries and am working two jobs to still be able to just survive as we always have. God is telling us to keep working and be ready, not to slack off or call it quits. I have friends who have quit working, living off of credit cards, stopped cleaning or maintaining their home, barely taking care of their kids. We can't live like this. We have to keep pressing forward even as the times get harder, because we never know when our bridgegroom will arrive and we do not want to be caught off guard and be unprepared.
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