While in route, a thought occurred to me; “Did I want Brasso or Oil for my lamp?” The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins came to my mind. It is a story from the Bible that tells of ten virgins who were all waiting for the Bridegroom to come:
“Then the kingdom of
heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to
meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but
the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom
was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry
was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him!’ Then
all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give
us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise
answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you;
but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went
to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the
wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came
also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I
say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know
neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming." (Matthew 25:1-12)
I continued
on my way to the next hockey rink when once again the thought came to my mind;
“Did I want Brasso or Oil for my lamp?” NOTE:
Brasso is the brand name of a multipurpose product
created to clean, remove tarnish and leave a brilliant shine on certain types
of metal.
I replied,
“I want fresh oil!”
“Then turn
the car around and head home”.
I knew what
that meant. If I want fresh oil for my lamp, I needed to respond and set aside
time to spend with God; in communication, in worship, in reading the Bible, and
in prayer. I needed to spend time with God.
The question
before me had to do with how I would spend my day. Would I spend it “applying
Brasso” to make who I was and my ministries look fresh and bright? Or would I
be more concerned with what was on the inside which comes only from a
relationship with Him.
I thought of
Jesus’ words to the religious leaders two thousand or so years ago;
“Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23:26-28)
So, I headed
home and spent the next several hours with God; in communication, in worship,
in reading the Bible, and in prayer. and He filled my lamp with fresh oil ready
to shine for His purposes.
"Scripture taken from
the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by
permission. All rights reserved."
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