Matthew 25 continues Jesus' discussion on the times of the end. In the chapter, he tells three parables: one about ten virgins, one about talents, and one about sheep and goats. For each parable I'll recap the story here and then add my comments.
First, the parable of the ten virgins. In this parable, ten virgins are invited to participate in a wedding ceremony. All of them bring oil, but only five bring extra oil. As it turns out, the bridegroom was late in coming and all the virgins fell asleep. At midnight the cry rang out that the bridegroom was coming! All of the virgins awoke and tried to light their lamps. The five virgins who had brought extra oil were happy, and lit their lamps. But the other five didn't have enough oil. They begged the other virgins to let them have some oil. But the wise virgins didn't have enough oil to share, and advised that the other foolish virgins go buy some oil at a store. While the five foolish virgins were off searching for oil, the bridegroom came. The five wise virgins with extra oil joined the procession and party, but the five foolish virgins couldn't.
I know that there are many points that could be brought out of this story, but the thing that really hit me was this: The virgins needed to have the oil ahead of time. They couldn't just buy some as they needed it. In the same way, you can't get what you need when you need it. You need to have it before you need it.
How does this apply in the spiritual world? You need to have a personal relationship with God starting now--not when you see Jesus coming in the clouds of glory. You need to be in communion with God now--and really, who knows when you may die? Living with this uncertainty, we are in eternal danger if we are not right with God every day, and having a personal relationship with him now. This principle has become more real to me as I've seen/heard of all the destruction around us right now with the tornadoes--lives, houses, and electricity lost.
We probably all know the parable of the talents. There's this guy who goes on a journey, and gives some of his property (talents) to three of his servants, according to their abilities. One servant gets five talents, another two, and another one. Time passes, and the master returns to his servants. What had his servants gained? The two talents with five and two talents had gained five and two more talents, respectively. But the servant with one talent had just hid his talent. When he was held accountable to his master, the servant let some pretty harsh things spill out of his mouth, and told his master that he had done nothing with the talent entrusted to him. All it had done was accumulate some dust. The master was extremely angry with this servant, and took "his" talent away, giving it to the servant who now had ten talents. The master then said what is recorded in Matthew 25:29:
"For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
In my mind, this idea applies to our skills known as talents as well. Everyone has at least one talent. Many people have several! Whether it be writing, smiling, basketball, or anything else, a talent, skill, or ability will not be developed if you don't work with it, trying to improve and learn. If you don't work with and try to improve on a certain talent, skill, etc., it will just go away.
Now onto our SOAP!
Scripture:
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"~Matthew 25:40
Observation:
This verse comes in the sheep-and-goats parable. In this story, Jesus (the King) separates everyone into two groups: saved or not saved; sheep or goats. The saved group is also called "sheep". When Jesus thanks the sheep for doing all sorts of nice things for him, the sheep query "When did we every do that??" Then Jesus gives the answer in the above Scripture.
Application:
Do you ever wish you could do something nice for Jesus? According to this verse, you can! Whatever you do for even the least, most little-known or cared-for human on the planet, it's just like you did the same act of kindness to Jesus. It may not seem to you to be a "big" thing. It may be a little thing, such as sending some money to Japan or offering your services in cleaning debris from the tornado. Or giving a smile to somebody on your way to work. It could be almost anything, but whatever nice, kind, thing you do, it is like doing that for Jesus.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for letting me read this passage today. Please impress me what kind thing you would want me to do today, and give me the courage to do it. Amen.
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