Dear Student of the Word,
I hope you are well and prospering in the will of God. I realize that these last few studies have been longer than usual because I have been including more verses than I normally do. This is because of the parables and stories we are studying. They do not lend themselves to being broken up, so I have included them in one day's study even though they exceed my usual limit of four verses per day. I trust that you are not overwhelmed by the length and will simply take them "one day at a time."
One such parable was this week's look at the parable of the wise and foolish virgins in Matthew 25 and their "oil crisis." These are the conclusions I came to about that story:
1. The main lesson seems to be one of personal preparedness in the context of the Lord’s return.
2. God expects everyone to be faithful and work with a view toward the future. This requires balance, for you must work today to prepare for the future while waiting on the Lord to clarify His will and purpose. You cannot do your work in your own power, yet you are expected to prepare and aggressively seek God’s will.
3. This does not only pertain to a state of holiness, where your life is free from sin, but also a sense of doing the work that God wants you to be doing to extend His kingdom.
4. If God gives you forty years or one hundred years, you are to be prepared to meet Him at any time by being faithful with the opportunities at hand. There will be a day when preparation will no longer be possible; the door will be shut. You cannot cram for the things of God like you do for a college exam.
5. This principle can be applied to health, learning and relational matters. You must make the most of the time you have and not talk about what you are going to do “one day.” You don’t know how many “days” you have, so you must act today to do all that you can do.
6. You can mourn for lost opportunities just like for lost loved ones. You can think of what could have been and be sad or think of all that was (that you did) and be happy.
7. The return of the Lord will be sudden and your own death will also be sudden; it will come more quickly than you may think. So be ready and live your life in such a way that you minimize regrets.
8. You cannot live off someone else’s faithfulness, just like the foolish virgins could not borrow oil from the wise. You must live your own life and make the most of it!
9. We must work like those who don’t know the Lord may not have much longer to give their lives to Him and ask forgiveness for their sins.
10. Regret is a terrible thing. You often can’t make up for what you regret doing or not doing; you can only share the wisdom you gained from the regret with others.
Can you think of any more lessons to be learned from this parable?
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. You can write them or find the studies to Corinthians, First Timothy and Mark's gospel on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go there to sign up to receive each week's study.
Plus a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse Bible studies from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, Hebrews and Revelation, along with the unpublished Faith Files, can be found on my website in the archives. Lord willing, I hope to have the New Testament studies finished by the end of 2009.
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