The girls excitedly pointed to the setting sun as they waited. This was the day! It was not just any day; it was THE day for their friend’s wedding. They smoothed out the wrinkles in their new dresses, retouched their hair, pinched their faces to bring out their color and gazed down the lane for the first sign of their friend’s husband. They were there to welcome him with the light of their lamps.
The glow of the day softened to pink and then faded into the early night. The girls watched the road anxiously. Nothing! Not a sign of the man who was to marry their childhood friend. They carefully sat down beside the road; but as the stars appeared and the hours crept by, each fell asleep. The stars grew brighter in the darkness as, one by one, the lamps ran low on oil and soon sputtered out.
He's Coming! He's Coming!
The cry “He’s coming! He’s coming!” shattered the quiet of the night. The girls sleepily awakened and then bumped into one another as each tried to find her lamp and light it for the welcome party. Five of the girls quickly replenished the oil in their lamps, lit them, and rose to welcome the husband. The other five repeatedly tried to light their empty lamps, their frustration knowing no bounds. They had no extra oil. The husband and his party swept past them as the frustrated girls rushed down the dark streets to try and buy oil from shops that had closed hours before.
The wedding party was brilliant in every way. The guests were welcomed into the banquet hall and the doors were closed. The girls eyed the festive room with wonder and laughed and danced with the sheer joy of seeing the heaven-made match of their friend and her lover. Their lamps lit the whole room.
The hours passed and the five girls without oil knocked at the door. They called out, knocked on the door some more and cried...but the master of the house did not recognize them. The door was shut.
America, the land of great freedom and untold blessings, is asleep. Jesus is coming again very soon! We have grown weary of the wait. One by one we have slumbered and slept the night away. Our lights have flickered, sputtered and died out.
Wake up America! Have we forgotten our first love, Jesus? Run to Him while there is still time! Have our Bibles become dusty relics stuffed in the corners of our closets? Come back to the written Word of God and discover the One who comes again! Ask God the Father for the oil of the Holy Spirit. Let the Spirit of God be the “Light and the Fire” of your soul.
Stand watching and waiting to welcome the Way, the Truth and the Life. His name is Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. There is no other.
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For further study read Matthew 24:42; 25:1-13
