Luke 13:24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”
Half-hearted lives. Lives created for greatness, but somewhere along the road, our budding potential gets snuffed out and we become satisfied to just get by. If there are report cards of life, as long as we get a C, we’ll be content (or so we think). Leave full-fledged commitment to the radicals.
Perhaps that’s what happened in the parable of the ten virgins Jesus told us about in Matthew 25:1-13….
These women were actually bridesmaids. Their sole responsibility consisted of preparing the bride to meet the bridegroom. They all carried torches, but only five of them took enough oil to keep their lamps lit. When the bridegroom finally arrived at midnight, they were summoned to meet him. But in horror, the five without oil realized their lamps were going out.
Now why would someone take out a torch with no fuel supply? More than likely they thought they had “just enough” to get by. Why bother carrying more than needed? Their miscalculation resulted in severe consequences. They were shut out of the wedding banquet. The one thing they were given to do turned out to be the one thing they failed to accomplish.
A “just enough” mentality inevitably causes us to miss our purpose. It shortchanges God’s plans for our lives and deprives us of partaking in the most divine of partnerships. It sometimes develops as a result of packing our schedules with so much other activity (our plans) that little room is left for God’s plans. Our busyness-while appearing to fulfill us-actually depletes us. We function on the assumption that we have “just enough” faith, “just enough” forgiveness, “just enough” sacrifice. But whatever the “just enough” oil in our lives might be, it won’t be sufficient to carry us through…any more than it was for the bridesmaids.
So if you have been operating under the illusion of “just enough,” it’s not too late to change. God spared nothing to make you great. He has provided “more than enough” to help you move from the mediocre to the extraordinary. Be ready…
Don’t let that precious oil run out.