It was Friday morning–time for the agent to come in and wrap things up. Our house was ready to go on the market, but the question is, were we?
Just 12 hours before, Michael and I were still racing around doing last minute stuff that probably should have been done two years ago. Cleaning the garage, picking up bricks in the back yard, touching up paint, organizing the storage room… and the list went on. Like so many others, we put things off until they had to get done.
As I got to thinking about that today, I was reminded of the Parable of the Ten Virgins. The Bible tells us that five of them were foolish and five of them were wise. You see, five of them were ready when the Lord returned and five of them were not.
Their only job was to shine, just as we are called to shine a light in this dark world. All ten of them had lamps, but here’s where five of them were foolish: they failed to recognize the fact that a lamp without fuel is nothing more than religion without Christ.
“Sure I believe in God,” many would say, “but I’d rather have fun now and get serious about my faith later.”
“Sin today, salvation tomorrow” is a dangerous mindset to choose, for we don’t know the day or the hour when the Lord will return.
Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning: Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 24:43-44, KJV)
And so as believers we must shine until our appointed time has come. Loving those He sends our way, reaching our hands out to the poor, sharing the good news of the gospel, joyful in tribulation, patient in trials, and faithful at all times, that we might be found blameless at His return.
What do you want to be found doing when he comes? Staring into the sky, saying, “Deliver me”? I want to be at a bedside, loving a sick person. I want to be in the city, working for the poor. I want to be in the pulpit, God willing, preaching a sermon. I don’t want to be staring into the sky, like that is some godly thing to do. – John Piper
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Tilling the Soil
Read the Parable of the Ten Virgins found in Matthew Chapter 25. The entire chapter is a good read, and a great fit for today’s post.
Planting Hope
Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning: Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 24:43-44, KJV)
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Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
Facebook: @timewarpwife
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Twitter: @timewarpwife
You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife