Nine Insights From Matthew 25:1-13

Read Matthew 25:1-13.

1. The lamp is the Word of God (Psa. 119:105).
2. The oil represents the Holy Spirit.
3. The purpose of having oil in one's lamp was to burn and consume, thus demonstrating readiness. Words such as "burn" and "consume" speak about passion.  Things we used to be passionate about we've reduced to logical correctness.  We say that we still believe them, only they no longer pierce us, drive us or control us.  Has tolerance extinguished your passion? When things are "burning" within you, you are more than interested.  You are obsessed!
4. The wick (the piece between the oil and the flame) must be trimmed.  You can't just burn. You'll burn out of control and damage yourself, your cause and those around you.  Burn brightly yet appropriately.
5. The five foolish virgins weren't condemned because they were resting or sleeping.  They missed out because they weren't ready.  Readiness is something you have and something you are.  It is not something you guess at.  Either you are ready or you are not ready.
6. You can't burn or borrow someone else's oil.  You have to get your own oil, your own resolve, your own testimony.  There is fresh oil available in God's presence!  The time to gather the oil is before you need it, not when you need it.
7. It's too late once you realize how late you are.  If you're not ready, you're left behind and shut out.  It's one thing to say you're ready on Sunday morning.  What about Thursday midnight? Readiness is a lifestyle, not an event or a moment.
8. Those who know (not just know about) the Bridegroom are the ready ones.  They know Him and He knows them.  They understand He wants them ready, not just available.  (Everyone is "available" for Christ's return!  What "believers" wouldn't want a part in that?)
9. Ready people watch.  They watch themselves.  They watch the times.  They keep watch over one another.  They watch with expectancy, desire and vigilance.  They're not looking for an event but for a Person.  

Everything Has A Season (Eccl. 3:1-8)

Aaron discovered what goes down must first go up.  There is no reward without the upward trek.  Life has its chutes and ladders, its highs and lows.  What do you do in between?  You rest.

Right now I'm in a rest phase.  I had no idea how depleted I'd become.  For three days it was a discipline not to work.  Intentionally, I had to shut down.  Resting isn't easy!  I know it's okay not to feel guilty, but I still battle it.

Gordon MacDonald's book, Restoring Your Spiritual Passion, has been helpful during this time.  I highly recommend it.

"There is an appointed time for everything. and there is a time for every event under heaven..." (Eccl. 3:1)

Three Limitations (Jn. 19:1-16)

We're continuing to read through the Gospel of John. Today's reading is John 19:1-24.

The limitation of generality.  Jesus was flogged.  What does that mean?  What happens during a flogging?  (In his commentary, The Gospel of John, Robert E. Tourville reminds us that the Romans, not the Jews, did the flogging.  The Romans were not subject to the rule of 39 maximum lashes.  That was the Jewish rule.)  The Romans put a crown of thorns on Jesus' head.  What . . . they gently placed it there as a mere decorative ornament?  They sledged it into His skull!

The limitation of familiarity.  We've read this account, or a similar one in the Synoptics, so often that our heads knod in agreement but our hearts might be unmoved.  Oh that we could read it and hear it as if it were our first time!  Familiarity with the content might limit its impact.

The limitation of the senses.  Sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste are the ways we ingest and process information.  What did the flogging look like?  What were the sounds Jesus uttered and how would you deswcribe them?  Can you picture Jesus' matted hair and beard?  When the soldiers beat the thorns into His head, all that blood went somewhere.  No doubt, some blood and sweat also got into Jesus' mouth.  How did that taste?  Perhaps someone nearby vomited at the spectacle.  What a smell!  No doubt Jesus' raw, exposed muscles were twitching violently.