Even God Gives Marks Our Punctuality

“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. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming;[a] go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour[b] in which the Son of Man is coming.

Matthew 25:1-13 

You're late for work more than a couple times they sack you. You're late to the hospital appointment you miss your appointment. You come to the cinema late and miss parts of your movie you was meant to watch at a certain time and then you won't understand the full plot of the film. But it's so funny and ironic how we can be on time for these things but be late to church. One thing that irritates my soul well apart from watching my team Arsenal lose most games or my siblings eating all the chocolate biscuits lol. Is being or seeing people late to church! If you remember the foolish virgins lost out on coming to the feast (their salvation) because they were late, why???? Because they were busy buying oil and didn't prioritise their time well as they knew He was coming. I'm not saying you're going to go to hell or get the severe punishment they did, but it just shows to God how much you value him, and I doubt those who are really of God would serve God anyhow which was evident in the foolish virgins. I used this parable because this is what we do by coming late to church we are disrespecting God and missing out on the blessings or the sermon. Not to mention those who come to late on church purposely, we are acting like the foolish virgins. Okay we get stuck in traffic, our alarms don't ring or that family member of ours took 20 years in shower to get ready. That's understandable but waking up 11 am and get to church for 12 pm when church started at 10 am come on give God a break! That's one thing but too purposely come to church late with no care in the world is another thing. Just like being late for the cinema in the example I used at the beginning of this blog, you will not get the sermon and worst of all miss the Spirit of the service when you come late.

 Like I used the example in the first paragraph and to link the verse above of what I'm going to say, we can make it on time for man such as going work early not to get our boss annoyed, or meeting that friend on time to not get them angry. Is the same fear and respect that we should have when we go to church, like I said before in last week's blog when I spoke about zeal (see how zeal and our punctuality for God relates) how we serve God is a spiritual offering, and coming to late is one of the worst things we do, if we can be early for work, make it on time to meet people why not God whose is more important than these things? I hate being late for church I feel as I've sinned because I'm giving God a defiled offering. This is why as Christians we cannot be late for church. So I would advise Christians to wake up an hour earlier, iron and prepare your suit/outfit the night before and the most important make sure you shower before your whole family lol! I know this maybe hard especially for the women lol who take 70 decades to get ready. But jokes aside we need to prioritise our time for God because as He's our lord, if we can prepare ourselves well for the Queen if she invited you for dinner or that job interview, why not for God??????!!!!!!!!!!! Food for thought isn't it? 

What if church wasn't free? What if you wasn't let in the church after being late by a certain amount of time? It would feel bad and embarrassing, I think about it and genuinely believe that many people don't value the church because it's free, if you had to pay for Church people attitude would change and people wouldn't come any how like it's a social club, people forget about how Holy and sanctified the church is. This is why people come in strolling as if they are Tyson Beckford in a catwalk because they simply don't value God even worse their spiritual life, this is why people come in church eating and drinking, sleep or are in another world when they're meant to be in spirit or concentrating on the sermon because these things of the church are free!!!! It's like today I was in Bible study and this girl walked in smiling with out a care in the world. I was thinking "Are people joking? How does God feel about this?" Because it's really unpleasant, not too mention very disturbing and distracting for the pastor and members in the sermon. Remember like I said last week we need to have ZEAL for God we need to serve God with our best and 100% like the wise virgins did and not be complacent and lazy like foolish virgins were.     

 Words by Ayo Balogun

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