Be Prepared!


This morning I overslept.  

I had hoped to get up at 6 or even 6:30, but instead as I looked at the clock it was 7.  That meant my morning routines had to be shifted and thrifted in order to get out the door at 8:30 as I had planned.

And its ironic, because as I had gone to sleep last night I had been asking God for some inspiration for the next morning's post, but nothing was coming except that darned song from the Lion King - BE PREPARED.

In Matthew 25 Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five were foolish and five were wise.  The wise ones took their lamps and extra oil. The foolish ones took only their lamps.  

The bridegroom took a long time in coming and all of the women got drowsy and fell asleep.  However, at midnight the bridegroom finally arrived, but the lamps of the foolish women were going out, and when they went to get more oil, the bridegroom entered the wedding banquet with the wise virgins, and the door was shut.  When the 5 foolish virgins returned they cried, "Lord, Lord, open the door for us."  But he replied, "Truly I tell you, I don't know you." - Matthew 25:11-12

Now if you know me, you know I like to see a thing in context, so after remembering this story I went to Matthew 24.

At the end of that chapter my Bible has a header titled, "The Day and Hour Unknown," and there you will find these words:

"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.  Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.  But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time, and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.  The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.  He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." - Matthew 24:45-51

Those verses make me anxious.  For when Jesus returns I do not want to be like the 5 foolish virgins whose lamps did not have oil.  I do not want to be like the servant who disregarded the commands of his master, figuring he always had more time to make it right.  I do not want to oversleep - and find myself unprepared...

Instead - I want to remember these words and to be ready - "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come." - Matthew 24:42

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