"Being Prepared"

"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." (Luke 21:34) So, here is my question, What is the difference between ready and prepared? In the case of the 'five foolish virgins' who did not have oil in their lamps, I believe that they were ready, but that they were unprepared. Regardless of what that oil might represent, the point that our Lord was trying to make, was one about being prepared for His return. Those five foolish virgins were indeed ready for the bridegroom, for they had taken their lamps to be ready for the bridegroom who was to come; yet they had not prepared enough to have sufficient oil in their lamps to come out to him when he arrived. This is what you might call, the "He has delayed His coming" trap that enemy can trick us into. "Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." (Matthew 25:13) The oil represents what was needed to keep that lamp going; which could be a representation for the Holy Spirit, or it could mean oil needed to light the lamp; which would represent a life that has been distracted from that which is most important, like being completely prepared for His coming. Caught off guard is a good way to look at this illustration; for the five foolish virgins were looking for the coming of the bridegroom, as were the other five, yet they had not done what was necessary for the moment that he arrived. To relate this to something that we might all understand, I would say the virgins all were a representation of Believers; five of which were watching and praying, five of which were not; and the five that were not, were busy doing other things, which left them unaware, or unprepared...