"Struck with Amazement" - Too

 "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." (Hebrews 4:1 KJV)

  ""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 of them 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 alone extra oil."" (Matthew 25:1-4 NLT)

 Seemingly, there is more to this that just trying to have faith; faith is not good enough if there isn't some sort of work to show that your faith is real! Some might challenge that statement, as there are people who do. But there is something called, love, which makes doing something with your faith, something to give others hope and encouragement; that this thing called, being a Christian, is real! 

 In the parable about the 'five wise and five foolish virgins,' Jesus is expressing the importance of being prepared for His return. Basically, what that could mean, is that those who are wise are prepared, meaning that they have filled their lamps, and have actually taken extra oil, just in case they needed more.

 If there was some way to simplify what this might look like in the real world, dealing with life and death issues; there are some people who have enough faith to deal with any sort of tragedy or situation, and then there are those who's faith is shattered when something seems to go terribly wrong. 

 In other words, when your faith is tested or you don't have the will to keep believing, you must be prepared to fill your lamps again! The foolish virgins didn't take enough oil for their lamps, meaning that they didn't have enough faith for being prepared for whatever might happen. 

 I'm sorry if that doesn't seem right, as if there is some other reason for the oil; but there are several different things that the oil represents. Many believe it is the Holy Spirit, which is easy to associate with what it takes. But even if that is the case, you must still have the faith to do what the Spirit tells you to do and allow the Spirit comfort you through whatever you are going through. 

 There are many that think they have enough faith, until some sort of travesty or disaster happens, then they lose it all together! We must be willing to trust God in every circumstance, believing that He has purpose in everything that we might have to go through or face.

 One way to be sure that there is a way, is to keep believing He is coming soon! If you are prepared for His return, then the things this world might throw at you, really won't matter as much! By the way, the title, "Struck with Amazement," is a definition of the word "fear" that is shown in verse one...

"When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what I should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:22-27 NLT)