Too Late! Too Late!
“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 25:3-4
We previously observed in this text that following God was not always the easiest or the most expedient thing to do. We saw the necessity of sometimes doing the inconvenient and what seems like an impractical thing. (Click here for the devotional “Doing the inconvenient thing”). I wanted to make one more observation from this very direct parable of Jesus. Often foolishness is not a matter of a continual failure of taking the right action. It can be manifest in one single but very important decision. The five women were declared foolish by a singular action of not taking that necessary ingredient – the oil for their lamps. The whole idea of a lamp is to be lit, and oil is that which enables the lamp’s central purpose. Without oil, lamp is merely infrastructure. It is bones and flesh without the soul. It is pretty and decorative, but with no life. Oil is like the soul of the lamp, and by neglecting oil they neglected the very reason of their possessing the lamp. Is it possible that they simply took that crucial ingredient, oil, for granted? The externals were more important, but oil, of course, oil can be found whenever needed. But it was not the availability, but their possession that mattered.
I wonder if we sometimes take God for granted. We are so focused on the externals, that we forget that singular ingredient that makes the rest of our lives meaningful. We take our soul for granted, and spend time thinking about the rest of the things in the world - our physical needs, our future plans, our dreams and goals. All that is infrastructure, the essential is the soul. I have said it myself, and heard it one too many times, and perhaps you have said it or heard it. The argument goes like this: “I ought to be paying attention to the eternal condition of my soul, but right now is just not a good time. Maybe when the kids grow up, maybe when I have finished this thing, or achieved that goal. After all God is loving and patient, isn’t He?” I heard somewhere this fable of Satan. Satan was overheard suggesting to his imps “Make them believe that there is no God, make them believe that there is no hell, but most of all make them believe there is no hurry.”
We may measure foolishness by a person’s constant ineptness in judgment, and praise someone for being wise when they have made decisions that have garnered success, but God puts all the weight of foolishness on one single decision – on our relationship to Him. Have we forgotten the soul at the expense of everything else?
Tennyson in his poem, Guinevere, puts the idea of this parable as poetry in the mouth of a maid singing to Guinevere, who has been discovered in her adultery.
Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill
Late, so late but we can enter still
Too late! Too late you cannot enter now!
No light had we for that we repent
And learning this the Bridegroom we relent.
Too late! Too late! ye cannot enter now
Have we not heard the bridegroom is so sweet
O let us in though late to kiss his feet
No, no too late, too late you cannot enter now!
I pray that we do not take our soul, and our relationship to God for granted, and one day hear the dreaded words, “Too Late! Too Late!”
Danesh Manik
___________________________________________________
“A Soul’s Anchor” is a daily inspirational message prepared to challenge your mind, inspire your heart, and motivate you to anchor your soul in the person of Jesus Christ.If you know a friend who would enjoy receiving “A Soul’s Anchor” in their email box each day, tell them they can sign up by emailing us at subscribe@asoulsanchor.org . The messages may also be read at our website, http://www.asoulsanchor.org. To unsubscribe, please email, unsubscribe@asoulsanchor.org with your email in the subject line. To change to a weekly instead of a daily subscription, email weekly@asoulsanchor.org with your email in the subject line. For receiving messages by mail, please write to us at A Soul’s Anchor, India International Church, 3654 Okemos Rd., Okemos, MI 48864
Matthew 25:3-4
We previously observed in this text that following God was not always the easiest or the most expedient thing to do. We saw the necessity of sometimes doing the inconvenient and what seems like an impractical thing. (Click here for the devotional “Doing the inconvenient thing”). I wanted to make one more observation from this very direct parable of Jesus. Often foolishness is not a matter of a continual failure of taking the right action. It can be manifest in one single but very important decision. The five women were declared foolish by a singular action of not taking that necessary ingredient – the oil for their lamps. The whole idea of a lamp is to be lit, and oil is that which enables the lamp’s central purpose. Without oil, lamp is merely infrastructure. It is bones and flesh without the soul. It is pretty and decorative, but with no life. Oil is like the soul of the lamp, and by neglecting oil they neglected the very reason of their possessing the lamp. Is it possible that they simply took that crucial ingredient, oil, for granted? The externals were more important, but oil, of course, oil can be found whenever needed. But it was not the availability, but their possession that mattered.
I wonder if we sometimes take God for granted. We are so focused on the externals, that we forget that singular ingredient that makes the rest of our lives meaningful. We take our soul for granted, and spend time thinking about the rest of the things in the world - our physical needs, our future plans, our dreams and goals. All that is infrastructure, the essential is the soul. I have said it myself, and heard it one too many times, and perhaps you have said it or heard it. The argument goes like this: “I ought to be paying attention to the eternal condition of my soul, but right now is just not a good time. Maybe when the kids grow up, maybe when I have finished this thing, or achieved that goal. After all God is loving and patient, isn’t He?” I heard somewhere this fable of Satan. Satan was overheard suggesting to his imps “Make them believe that there is no God, make them believe that there is no hell, but most of all make them believe there is no hurry.”
We may measure foolishness by a person’s constant ineptness in judgment, and praise someone for being wise when they have made decisions that have garnered success, but God puts all the weight of foolishness on one single decision – on our relationship to Him. Have we forgotten the soul at the expense of everything else?
Tennyson in his poem, Guinevere, puts the idea of this parable as poetry in the mouth of a maid singing to Guinevere, who has been discovered in her adultery.
Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill
Late, so late but we can enter still
Too late! Too late you cannot enter now!
No light had we for that we repent
And learning this the Bridegroom we relent.
Too late! Too late! ye cannot enter now
Have we not heard the bridegroom is so sweet
O let us in though late to kiss his feet
No, no too late, too late you cannot enter now!
I pray that we do not take our soul, and our relationship to God for granted, and one day hear the dreaded words, “Too Late! Too Late!”
Danesh Manik
___________________________________________________
“A Soul’s Anchor” is a daily inspirational message prepared to challenge your mind, inspire your heart, and motivate you to anchor your soul in the person of Jesus Christ.If you know a friend who would enjoy receiving “A Soul’s Anchor” in their email box each day, tell them they can sign up by emailing us at subscribe@asoulsanchor.org . The messages may also be read at our website, http://www.asoulsanchor.org. To unsubscribe, please email, unsubscribe@asoulsanchor.org with your email in the subject line. To change to a weekly instead of a daily subscription, email weekly@asoulsanchor.org with your email in the subject line. For receiving messages by mail, please write to us at A Soul’s Anchor, India International Church, 3654 Okemos Rd., Okemos, MI 48864
posted by Danesh Manik | 2:43 PM
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