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Wise or Foolish?, February 15
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which
took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of
them were wise, and five were foolish.
Matthew 25:1, 2
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We are not to rest in the idea that because we are church-members we
are saved, while we give no evidence that we are conformed to the image
of Christ, while we cling to our old habits, and weave our fabric with the
threads of worldly ideas and customs....
The ten virgins are watching in the evening of this earth’s history. All
claim to be Christians. All have a call, a name, a lamp, and all claim to be
doing God’s service. All apparently watch for His appearing. But five are
wanting. Five will be found surprised, dismayed, outside the banquet hall.
We are represented either by the wise or by the foolish virgins. There
are many who will not remain at the feet of Jesus, and learn of Him. They
have not a knowledge of His ways; they are not prepared for His coming.
They have made a pretense of waiting for their Lord. They have not watched
and prayed with that faith which works by love and purifies the soul. They
have lived a life of carelessness. They have heard and assented to the truth,
but they have never brought it into their practical life. The oil of grace is
not feeding their lamps, and they are not prepared to enter into the marriage
supper of the Lamb.
Be not like the foolish virgins, who take for granted that the promises
of God are theirs, while they do not follow the injunctions of Christ. Christ
teaches us that profession is nothing. “If any man will come after me,” He
says, “let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” ...
When we stand the test of God in the refining, purifying process; when
the furnace fire consumes the dross, and the true gold of a purified character
appears, we may still say, with Paul, “Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect: but I follow after.... This one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
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