Matthew 25:1-13 gives us the parable of the ten virgins, five wise and five foolish. Here Jesus reveals to us the scenario where ten individuals start off with oil. We know from the scriptures that oil signifies the anointing, so these ten virgins all had a great starting point.
However, only five of the ten actually made it all the way to the wedding. Five of the virgins, whom we refer to now as the foolish virgins, didn't prepare and store up enough of the oil to last. Though they all ten started off with lamps burning, only five "endured 'til the end."
This treasure we have in earthen vessels (II Corinthians 4:7) must be nourished, cultivated, protected. We can't allow the cares of this world (Mark 4:19) to choke out the precious change that God worked in us when we were saved and received His wonderful Spirit.
We are new in Christ according to the following scriptures, having put off our old man, our former self, and put on the new man, the one that seeks God and follows the Spirit:
II Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 4:22-24
Colossians 3:9-10
The things of God and a walk with God truly come as a gradual process. Jesus asked, in what we refer to as "The Lord's Prayer," for daily bread (or sustenance), and in II Corinthians 4:16 Paul said our inward man is renewed "day by day." Finally, II Corinthians 3:18 says we are changed from glory to glory.
Jesus said in Mark 13:13 that only they which endure until the end will be saved. Our initial change, out with the old and in with the new, must be kept. We must fight to keep the change that God has made in our lives.....
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