Scripture
At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom.
~ Matthew 25:1 (CSB)
Quote
Despair ruins some; presumption many.
~Ben Franklin
I’ve never been fond of the parable of the ten virgins. It is a parable that is hard for us to relate to: where on earth are we going to find ten virgins these days? But there are some lessons to be learned. First of all, it is foolish not to prepare for the inevitable. In the ancient East, the grooms father called the shots. There were not Saturday evening wedding at 6:00. They didn’t even narrow it to a particular day, let alone hour. When the grooms father was ready [had the bridal suite prepared] he sent his son to get his bride. In other words, you had to be ready, so that when the herald announced his coming you were prepared. Similar to a military person being on stand-by in an airport: ready when a seat is available. The wise were prepared and the foolish were not. If you run a small business you know that you have to take out taxes weekly; you can’t wait until April 15. Thus it is wise to prepare for that which we know is going to happen. Secondly; they assumed they could borrow from others. We call this proxy salvation. I’m not a Christian but my mother and daddy were so I think God will let me go in on their coat tail! NO, no, no, He most certainly will not. When it comes to salvation, you cannot borrow. You must have your own personal salvation experience. Of course, the central thrust of the story is that no one knows the day or the hour that Jesus will return for His bride the church. We are to live in a state of constant readiness.
We are to guard against slothfulness. Jesus tells two parables back to back about the dangers of being slothful or lazy. The five lazy virgins were not prepared because the were lazy and assuming. I was in my second year of college and my first class was at 9:00 a.m. It was Art Appreciation 101 and final exam week. Mother woke me up around 7:00 but I rolled over and went back to sleep. She always came back a second time. She had warned me more than once that she was going to stop waking me up twice but I had no idea that she was going to start on this particular morning. Long story short, I missed the entire exam. When I told the professor the truth, he was offended. He thought I should have taken his class more seriously. Art teachers, they are a different breed. I begged for mercy but he would not relent. Since I was working my way through school, I was upset. This error cost me money, not my folks. He made me sweat a couple of days and then he told me: “I’m going to let you take the exam, but this better not happen again.” I assured him it would not because I only had to take the one course. I didn’t tell him that but I did give him my word that I would not oversleep and miss his class again.
The moral of the story: don’t procrastinate and do not be presumptuous.
- WOW! 2,574 registered and heard the gospel at TRUNK-A-TREAT. Unbelievable! We had almost 1,000 last year. Largest crowd at any connecting event in a decade. We did get over 3,000 for a BLOCK PARTY but it was years ago. Trunk-A-Treat more than doubles this years BLOCK PARTY.
- A busy day yesterday. I preached a trial sermon in the A.M. Ten Reasons You May or May Not Want to Call Me. They are going to vote next Sunday. It has to be a 90% vote. May the LORD’s will be done.
- I didn’t do well on my football predictions: I missed two I know. Vandy and A&M messed me up.
- DBC REVIVAL begins Sunday Morning.