NOVEMBER 03 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#31 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?” (Matthew 24:45)

 

NOVEMBER 03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#31 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?”  (Matthew 24:45)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, guide me in Thy Way, keep me filled with Thy Holy Spirit, that I may truly serve others as You Served the world, even unto the Sacrifice of Your Perfect Life that was Spotless before the Father, the Lamb of God, whom it pleased Almighty God to be offered up on the Cross at Calvary as the Perfect Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind— one death to cover all sin — Lord, You took nothing for Yourself and all that You did possess You gave freely that others would be served by Your Suffering for our sakes. 

Thank You Lord Jesus. It is a mystery and a miracle that God Himself became flesh, lived a perfect life in this “valley of the shadow of death”, was tempted in all things as we are tempted, yet remained without sin, and allowed Himself to be nailed to cross, Divine Innocence hanging in Sacrificial Agony for the guilty, shedding His last drop of Divine Blood and cried out in VICTORY OVER ALL SIN (AND DEATH ITSELF) —— “IT IS FINISHED” !!! Praise God for the Gift of His Son that we may be FORGIVEN — Teach me O Holy Spirit to live my life in honor of the ONE WHO DIED FOR ME!!!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Taught us a multitude of Lessons within the Parable of the Ten Virgins but probably the main Lesson was for all who seek to know God that they look upon Him as  “Our Heavenly Father” for even though the parable is about “Ten Virgins” (which I admit was a bit distracting from a worldly viewpoint which is in my opinion a plague of the “flesh”) the parable Teaches us first about the “wisdom of preparedness” — for Jesus immediately showed us via the preparedness or the lack thereof of these ten virgins what will ultimately be considered as “wise” or “foolish” kingdom behavior. Jesus continued His parable: “…heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.” (Matthew 25:1-4) 

Aside from the historical setting in which Jesus Taught this Lesson, surely one can see the universal Truth of the necessity of having fuel for the lamp - for if a lamp is to produce light, it must have fuel! Also on the surface we can make the assumption that a lamp that does not have fuel will not burn therefore the ones with the lamps with no “oil” will be in “darkness”!  Let us stop and mull on this Truth for there is no Truth of God that is not worthy of us meditating on GOD’S Truth itself and give serious consideration to what God intends for us to learn about living our day-to-day lives if we will but apply His Truth to our lives. 

The obvious advantage to having “oil” for our “lamps” is that when “darkness” comes into our lives that we will be able to dispel the “darkness” with the “light” from our lamp. However the major Truth of God can be found “in the beginning” of the world as we read the first words of creation — 1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” but the earth and heaven were under construction for we read, 2 “The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” So what did the Spirit of God do to correct the earth not having “form” or purpose and to address the problem of “darkness” that covered the formless earth? 3 “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.  4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:1-4) 

The fact that five of the virgins were considered “foolish” because even though they had a lamp and were going out to meet the bridegroom, they were called “foolish” because they were not prepared to produce any “light” with their lamps, therefore the “foolish” are those that do not know the simple TRUTH that a lamp without oil cannot produce “light” and those “foolish” enough to not bring “oil” for their lamps will remain in “darkness”. 

This Truth of God about “light” was also taught by King David himself and all Israel had read King David’s writings in the Book of Psalms therefore it is appropriate that Jesus is the Son of David and is writing about “light” as King David had written these words inspired by the same “Spirit of God” that called forth the first “light” as we read, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) 

The Parable of the Ten Virgins then is more about having “oil” for our lamps than about remaining pure before the world. “Lamps” without “oil” will not produce “light” so the question for all of us simply is, “What are you using for “oil”  in YOUR lamp?”  Without “oil” to give you “light” for your “path” you will stumble and without “Light” you will surely even lose your way in the  “darkness”  of life!!! 

Food for thought: “What good is a flashlight without batteries?”