December 29, 2022 - Matthew 25:1-10

“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’ All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’ But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’ But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked.” Matthew 25:1-10 NLT

Lord, we want to be the wise bridesmaids who are ready and waiting for your return. Help us to stay diligent and focused on you. We don’t want to get distracted by things that don’t matter and forget to tend our lamps. Help us keep things in our life in order and right before you, so we are always ready for your return.

Lord, on top of being wise, we also want to be loving. We don’t want to be solely focused on making ourselves ready, but we also want to help others be ready too. You have called us to this, so I know that it is possible to do both. We can’t force people to fill their lanterns and be ready, but we can make sure they know the importance of doing so. There are so many people in our world who don’t know you exist, much less that you are their bridegroom who longs to come for them. They don’t understand that they need to be ready or what the consequences are if they are not ready. We want to do our part to help get as many people ready as possible.

In Jesus name, amen.