Matthew 25:13

“Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

     One day I had to take a very important test. The instructions as I signed up told me that if I did not show up on time, then my test would be forfieted with no refund. As I was getting ready to go to take the exam, I decided to give myself some extra time, just in case traffic was congested. This was unusual for me because normally I expect everything to go according to plan. It was quite suprising to me then when my tire went flat on the way there. Having no way to push through, I had to pull over and change it.

     Luckily for me, on this occassion I had prepared myself for such an occassion. While there was a bit of panic I was able to make it on time to my test. However, if I acted like I normally do, I would have missed my test and lost a considerable amount of money. It was scary to realize how close I was to being unprepared. The situation reminded me of the ten virgins found in Matthew 25. Some were prepared with extra oil, while others were not. Those who were not prepared were shut out of the banquet feast.

     In our daily walk, we need to make sure we are prepared. It is easy for us to get lacksidasical. We figure everything will be just fine today, so we do not need to prepare. We allow ourselves to dabble in sin because God will probably come back another day rather than today. We cannot make such allowances. Instead we need to be prepared every day for the Lord’s return. Otherwise we might have a flat tire on the wrong day and miss the banquet feast.

“Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.