10th. December. 2020. Daily Devotion.

The parable of the ten virgins

25 ‘At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ³ The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴ The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵ The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
⁶ ‘At midnight the cry rang out: “Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!”
⁷ ‘Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.”
⁹ ‘“No,” they replied, “there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.”
¹⁰ ‘But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
¹¹ ‘Later the others also came. “Lord, Lord,” they said, “open the door for us!”
¹² ‘But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.”
¹³ ‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. Matthew 25:1-13
This parable of Christ is easily understood. Christ is the bridegroom, and the virgins are the people of earth awaiting his coming. Those who prepare themselves for the coming of Christ will enter into “the marriage feast,” which is Christ’s kingdom. But those who do not prepare themselves, Christ will deny.

Because we do not know when Christ will come, we must prepare ourselves now, with daily prayer and the reading of God’s Word. We must at all times remember our belief in Christ and our faith in His resurrection, and we must honour Him with our praise.

During Advent, we prepare to celebrate the first coming of Christ, his birth as a human child to a humble young woman who spent the night in a barn. This echoes our waiting for Christ’s return, and the joy we express in remembrance of Christ’s birth echoes the joy we know will come when Christ returns to us.

 Morning Prayer

Let me to-day do something that shall take
A little sadness from the world’s vast store,
And may I be so favoured as to make
Of joy’s too scanty sum a little more.

Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed
Or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend;
Nor would I pass, unseeing, worthy need,
Or sin by silence when I should defend.

However meagre be my worldly wealth,
Let me give something that shall aid my kind –
A word of courage, or a thought of health,
Dropped as I pass for troubled hearts to find.

Let me to-night look back across the span
‘Twixt dawn and dark, and to my conscience say –
Because of some good act to beast or man –
“The world is better that I lived today.” Amen.

~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox