Matthew 24:36 “ But of that exact day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the son, but only the father”.
In the last few months I have had people ask me about the end times. After all, it has been the topic of several movies that have gotten people thinking about it. We know that nobody knows the hour. Matthew 24:36 “ But of that exact day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the son, but only the father”. So nobody knows exactly when the Lord is going to return, but Jesus gave us advice when He said: Matthew 24:”you must be ready therefore, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect him”. Let’s look at the Parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1 – 13. There were ten virgins. All were waiting for the bridegroom. All of the virgins had lamps. But five of the virgins did not prepare for the long wait. The other five were wise and had prudently brought extra oil in case the bridegroom tarried. At midnight the bridegroom arrived. They all fell asleep. When the bridegrooms arrival was announced all the virgins arose and started to put their lamps in order but the foolish virgins did not have enough oil. They were not ready. They asked the prudent five for some of their oil and were advised to go purchase some for themselves. While they were on their way, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with the groom. When the other five arrived later the door was shut to them. When they knocked on the door and called out “Lord, Lord open the door to us”, the Lord replied “I solemnly declare to you I do not know you”. They probably stood outside crying and heard the sounds of a fantastic party going on – they were not part of it. They had not been ready. Life can get us off track. Maybe when we were first saved we were so thrilled to be free of our sins and to experience the tender love of God that it was easy for us to pray and read our Bibles and walk in holiness. But time goes on. Life happens. We can get distracted by lots of little things. And we who were once ready may no longer be ready. So how do we get ready? First, take a look at the time stealers in our lives. It might be television, Face book, tweeting, outside activities etc. We can get involved in so many things. When I go through a crisis I do an exercise that I call “lightening the load”. It’s a similar activity to sailors who are trying to lighten the weight of the boat that is in a severe storm by throwing overboard everything that is not absolutely necessary. If we have gotten off track and are not 100% ready for the return of the Lord every single day we need to “lighten the load”. Let’s get rid of everything that is not absolutely necessary. That may sound difficult, but remember those unprepared five virgins. That was the only difference between the two groups. All were virgins, all were waiting for the groom, all had lamps, all had some oil but only five were prepared. I don’t know when the Lord’s going to return but I want to be ready and I want to stay ready. Jesus is Lord!
