“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Matthew 25:13

Jesus is using the parable of ten bridesmaids to drive home the point of being ready for a known event – his return -with an unknown date and time. All of the bridesmaids bring their lamps with them to go wait for the groom’s arrival. However, only five of them bring extra oil – they realize that they might be waiting for awhile for the groom to show up.

Have you seen those pictures and news reports of the empty shelves when a hurricane is bearing down on the coastline? Guess who cleared those shelves? Yep. The unprepared. In Jesus’s parable, the unprepared bridesmaids do go out and find extra oil, but by the time they get back from the store, the party has already started and they’re no longer welcome. Don’t be the person that arrives at the grocery store ten minutes before the hurricane makes landfall expecting to find bottled water, powdered milk, rice, beans, matches, toilet paper, and etc. Get those things now while they’re in copious supply. They’re not expensive; just like the oil for the bridesmaids’ lamps it wasn’t about the money. They just didn’t have it when it mattered most.

Don’t wait until the unexpected hits to get prepared. Get yourself ready for unexpected events; they will happen. Power grids go offline. Pandemics and blocked shipping lanes shut down supply chains.

Jesus is coming back. It’s not an if but a when. So get your heart ready for Jesus’s return. You won’t miss it; it’s just a matter of whether you’re ready for it or not.