“1 Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.“

When should one start preparing for retirement? That’s a common question asked every time the subject of retirement is brought up. The answer given is usually this, the same day you start working.

No one knows the day that they will born and once born, no one knows the number of years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds they will live on earth. In the same manner we should start to prepare for eternity as soon as we start living here on earth.

The parable of the 10 virgins teaches us to be ready and prepared. The folly of life for many people, is we always think we have a lot of time and thus we don’t prepare for the afterlife even though we know that one day, it will be our last day on earth, we just don’t know when. Every time we attend a funeral we are reminded that life here on earth is not permanent and soon our day of departure will come, but somehow we forget as soon as we are done with the funeral.

The things we want to hold on to as opposed to surrendering our lives to Christ in preparation of his coming, are the very things that are leading us to eternal damnation.

How ready are you for Christs return? Will he find you ready when he comes back or will you be like the five virgins who had no oil for their lamps when they needed it the most? The Bible tells us to be ready in season and out of season. May this parable be a wake up call to always ensure that we live life here on earth with our “bags already parked” so to speak, ready for the return of our Lord.

Are you the kind of person who prepares well in advance or are you a last minute person?

How have you prepared for the coming of Christ?

Read the parable in Luke 12:16-21. How does it relate to the parable of the 10 virgins?