Douglas Summers
Member
?????????Matthew 25:1-13
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
The ten virgins all thought they had oil to burn in their lamps, and they all slept and slumbered. But at midnight a cry went forth, and they all rose to go forth to meet the bridegroom. The oil was needed so that their way might be lit in the darkest of hours. Now the foolish took no oil with them, but that does not mean there was no oil in there lamp to begin with; and likewise the wise virgins feared that they might not have enough oil for themselves.
For each of the virgins, the oil that filled their lamps before they departed was mined from the scriptures and the word of God. And the oil that was mined was the Promise of the Holy Spirit. Now when they each arose to go forth they lit their lamps, and they did burn for a while as they went forth and trimmed them.
Now the foolish virgins took no oil with them, meaning they did not know the Spirit of the Lord within them. Soon their lamps went out and they were left alone in the dark, sent off to buy from those who sell. And like the oil barrens and profiteers, the power from the light of the Son has been suppressed that they might sell unto you their oil. And like those who pillage for profit by fracking for oil, or those who would squeeze every drop of oil they can from the tar sands at the expense of the common wealth, the foolish virgins return again to the Bible or to those who sell books about the Bible, trying to squeeze every last drop of oil that remains from the dried ink on the pages of a book. The foolish virgins never understood that for all the oil they might mine, and for all the oil that they might purchase, there is never enough oil to sustain the lamp, for it soon burns dim before it need more oil.
Now the wise virgins started off with the same oil in their lamps as did the foolish, but the wise virgins took some oil with them, and they carried that oil in their container of Faith. Now after they has arose and went forth, they lit their lamps and trimmed them, and when their lamps began to dim and the darkness overtake them they did not turn back, but they called upon their Faith and it sustained them for a while and their lamp remained lit. But the wise virgins were called wise for a reason, for they perceived that the oil of their faith was no different than the oil they first began with; the oil mined from the scriptures. And as the oil of their faith weakened to the point that there lamps were barely lit, they drew on their last bit of faith and called upon the Lord to lighten their way in the darkness. And when they saw that the Lord did send forth His Spirit to lighten their way, and that the darkness was not as frightful as they thought, they learned to trust in the Lord and to trust in His Spirit.
Now trusting in the Spirit of the Lord to lighten the way before them, the wise virgins found that if they took their eyes off the path for a moment to gaze at the world around them they would quickly loose sight of that light, and they would once again stumble around in the darkness until they call upon the Lord once again. Soon the Lord reminds them that they should carry a little extra oil with them, and so He gives to them the gift of His Faith. Now back on their way with their lamps lit and trim, when the wise virgins find the darkness deepening around them, they soon discover that once they call upon that Faith to refuel their lamp, that they are soon able to trim their lamp to meet the magnitude of darkness before them. And as the darkness grows around them, their lamps begin to burn brighter, and soon they discover that once they have called upon that gift of Faith, that the Spirit of the Lord sustains them and that His oil does not diminish.
Our light begins to shine brighter and our Faith begins to grow when we can learn to express the Word of God within us rather than just the word of God as it found in the ink on the pages of a book.