Are You Ready

 

“Are you ready”? is a question that we get asked constantly from childhood: “Are you ready to get up?” “are you ready for your shower”? “are you ready for Breakfast”? “Are you ready for school”? and so it continues through our life; we always have to be ready for something. But what a dreadful feeling it is if someone reminds us, at the last minute, about something important we forget to get ready for. At such a time we understand the meaning of the word “Panic”, but unfortunately panicking does not always solve the problem, does it?

When I was a little boy back in the 1930s we had no electricity on our farm so at night

mum always kept a “Hurricane Lantern” lit (like the one in the photo), so we had a light “always ready” in case we had to go and close the chook yard gate after dark, or tie the dog or even go from the kitchen to the bedroom, it helped us find our way easily and as I was scared of the dark, it was also very comforting to see that there was nothing to be frightened of lurking in the shadows. Well there could have been a snake. Our neighbour, Jack, at “Wilgareena” got bitten by a snake near the dog kennel. My sister found one in the bedroom, aimed the 12-gauge Shotgun at it, pulled the trigger and drove the snakes head through the floor, and received a bruised shoulder, all at once.

 For anyone who may not be familiar with this type of light, you filled the bottom section with Kerosene or as some call it “Paraffin” which is a fuel oil made from a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons. A wick of absorbent material, controlled by a winder, sucked up the Kerosene by capillary action and you lit the wick with a match.  The light which was inside that glass was protected from the wind and lasted for hours before you had to add more Kerosene, providing that you turned the wick down low with the winder. Therefore, it was always “ready”. The other lamps used in the house worked on a similar principle.  In Biblical times they had a lamp that looked like a teapot except that the spout was shorter and turned upwards and a wick went down inside the spout and into the oil that was in the body of the lamp, it worked well but it had a “naked” flame with no winder to adjust the wick so it used a considerable amount of “oil” and needed frequent refilling.

Jesus told a story about “ten bridesmaids” in Matthew 25, (New Living Translation), who had to attend an evening wedding so they each took a lamp with them (probably like the last one I just described). Now I don’t understand the customs of their day, but apparently they had to wait outside the place where the wedding was to take place until the Groom arrived and then they could go in with him. In this particular case the Groom was delayed for some reason and didn’t arrive until midnight. Meanwhile the girls had dosed off and woke with a start when it was announced that he had arrived. Five of them had neglected to bring spare oil with them so were not ready and had to run and get some because their lamps had gone out, but unfortunately for them when they returned they found that the other five who had brought extra oil and were ready, had gone in with the Bridegroom and the doors were now shut.

The Groom in this story represents Jesus himself, and the Bridesmaids represent people like us and the hall where the wedding was to be held represents the Kingdom of Heaven. You see Jesus was talking about the time when he will “come again” to receive those of us who are prepared and ready. Of course if we die before he comes again, then the same thing still applies: those who are prepared and ready will be accepted into Heaven but sadly, those who are not prepared and ready will be “cast out into outer darkness: where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” for eternity. (Matthew 22:13 & 25:30). (What a dreadful and unnecessary alternative that would be).

Exactly then what do we have to do in order to be prepared and ready? Well, briefly it amounts to this: We prepare by “repenting”, which means asking God’s forgiveness for sin, and deciding to follow Jesus directions in future (as outlined in the New Testament). The 10 Bridesmaids would have fulfilled the equivalent of that preparation, but 5 of them were like some of us who fail to “update that commitment” which is something we need to do on a daily basis. 

Take my case for example: On the 10^th of January in 1950, I made that commitment and if I had died on the 11^th (the next day) I would have gone to Heaven because I was ready. However, I didn’t die so I must continue to live the way Jesus directed, asking God’s forgiveness for sinful thoughts and concentrate on “Loving my neighbour as I love myself” and so on, because these things keep me ready as they confirm my original commitment and are the equivalent of “topping up” my lamp with oil so I have light for my path and am ready.  Best wishes as you think about that, if you haven’t already done so.   Tom.