KB Chakela challenges with a reminder of what the most important thing in life should be

Lately I have been asking myself if I have grown cold in my walk with God, my daily routine still involves devotional time, morning, and midnight prayers, and I still read the Word and still speak to God throughout the day as I usually do. But this rhythm that I have come to with God feels stale, it feels like I have grown cold, and growing cold equals not growing in relationship with God.

The Bible in Matthew twenty-five speaks about ten virgins, five of them were wise and the other five were foolish, and often messages around these Bible Scriptures are centred on wisdom and preparedness, and many of us frown upon the foolish virgins thinking it can never be us.  But, if we were to look closely at our relationship with God, He has become a check box on our to-do list, and yes many of us pray, read the Word and know God, but are you busy running out of oil and not even aware? 

The thing about the foolish virgins is that they were really no different from the other five, they were also virgins, which means that they had kept themselves for marriage, they had lamps like the other virgins, and had the bridegroom arrived earlier, they would not be a cautionary tale.  While they were all waiting for the bridegroom, they all fell asleep and slumbered. The Bible tells us this because the bridegroom delayed Matthew 25:6 NKJV “But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.” Maybe if they had not slumbered and gone to the markets to get oil, the bridegroom would have found them ready, but unfortunately due to circumstances not within and beyond their control they were left behind. 

Consistency is key in anything we do.  Making sure we set aside time to spend with God is crucial. However, the reality for most of us is that we have come into routine with the Lord and fallen out of sync with Him.  We no longer have the same fervency we used to have when it comes to prayer and spending quality time with our creator.  The truth is, given the opportunity, we are quick to take a break from God. How many of us go on holiday and leave our Bible and journals behind, how many of us take a break from work and start missing prayer and devotional times? If you don’t relate to what I am saying, I thank God for you. I ask that you would pray for all of us who find ourselves scheduling God like a task we have to do, not realising that He is who we are.

I think about The Apostle Peter and the rest of the Apostles, they had gotten so used to Jesus that they began to argue amongst themselves in the presence of the all mighty God regarding who is greatest among them.  I think about the children of Israel, who had eaten manna from heaven (angels’ food) in the wilderness and got so used to the daily miracle that they began to ask if God could give them meat in the wilderness. And lastly, I think about you and me, how we make sure we read the Word, pray, do our daily devotionals, we have and do everything required of us like the wise virgins, but still lack oil.

This is not a post to condemn you, this is a post from a fellow sister in Christ, asking you to search yourself, and if you find that that fire and desire you used to have for God has died out, and is replaced by routine, with prayer being a checklist item, I encourage you to pray and ask the Lord for fresh oil, because had the foolish virgins gone out sooner and bought oil for their lamps while the wise ones slumbered they might have made it into the marriage supper. And so today, pray and ask the Lord for fresh oil, and start being more intentional about the time spend with God.

While we may resemble the foolish virgins now, let’s refuse to stay foolish and get oil.