Back in the day, not like my parent's age, but the day of the ancient Jewish society marriages looked drastically different. Once a couple became engaged the bride and groom would go their separate ways. The bridegroom to prepare the home for the wife and future family and the wife to prepare like every day is her wedding day. The bridesmaids also played the role of fully preparing for the wedding. Every day they would collect jars of oil to light the lamps so when the bridegroom returned they would run through the village announcing the wedding celebration. There is the background for you, in Matthew 25: 1-13 it tells this story of preparedness for the wedding.
In this story, everyone is fulfilling their role and preparing as they should except for five of the bridesmaids who were foolish and lazy. The wedding came later than expected and the bridesmaids who were ready lit the way but the foolish ones begged for oil but there was none to spare. So as they ran off to get oil, once they came back to the wedding festivities the doors were locked and they could not enter.
The Lord then spoke, Matthew 25: 12-13, “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’ So you, too, must keep watch? For you do not know the day or hour of my return.”’ If we dissect this parable we come to realize that the point of the story is that we all need to be prepared every day because we have no idea when we will sit before the Lord. We need to live every day as if it were the rapture today or if it was your last day on earth. The Lord has a plan and I know it is much bigger, mightier, and powerful than we'll ever be able to fully comprehend. We need to prepare ourselves, our souls, minds, and hearts to align with God every single day, because only God knows the day that you will stand before judgment and either make your way to heaven or hell and that day is coming sooner or later. We can not catch ourselves referring to the somedays: someday I will be better, someday I will have a relationship with God, someday I will stop cursing, or someday I will start going to church. We cannot get caught up in the somedays, we have to prepare ourselves and be ready now. We don’t want to end up in the same shoes as the foolish bridesmaids who didn't get to enjoy the celebration because they weren’t prepared. I encourage you to prepare yourself and be close in communication with the Lord, because we have no idea when Jesus will return. Be prepared!