Matthew 25 is about awaiting the second coming of our Savior. It starts with the parable of the ten virgins awaiting their bridegroom. We are told that the bridegroom was delayed and when he returned, five virgins were prepared having a vessel filled with oil and five had run out of oil and were unprepared. We are instructed in verse 13 “So, you too must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return." The oil represents the Holy Spirit, we are the vessel and the bridegroom’s returning is Jesus’ second coming to earth. How can we keep our vessel filled with oil and be prepared when Jesus comes again? It is suggested in verse 13 that we are to keep watch for Jesus second return.

Philippians 3:30 reads “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior." Knowing our home is with Jesus in heaven, our deepest longing would be to go home… to be reunited with Christ. Jesus, our example, had no home to go to immediately after his birth. He lived with the animals. And as he grew and started his ministry, he didn’t have a home, a bed or even a pillow to lay his head on. He was grounded and rooted in his Father and things of eternal value. I am easily rooted in temporal things: decorating and maintaining my house, keeping my 55 year old body healthy and “well preserved”, and feeding my ego which makes everything about me, rather than about God and his will. Everything changes when we wake up remembering this earth, our house, our physical body, and most of the details of our life that seem so urgent and important…are temporary. This has never been more evident to me as when I was a Hospice Chaplain. The temporary aspect of life was in front of me on a daily basis. I saw the spirit grow stronger as the body grew weaker for those that had a relationship with Jesus. They cared about things of eternal value. Earth was tangibly temporary, and these dying patients eagerly awaited going home to be with their Savior and Lord. They were keeping watch.

I am asking God to help us be filled with the oil of his Holy Spirit, to know Jesus and his will is our home…to remember that our bodies, our houses, and the majority of life’s details are temporary. May God help us to all keep watch with eager anticipation for Jesus’ second coming. 

To end this post, I want to encourage you to listen to this song by Carrie Underwood: Temporary Home.