Verses 1-13
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Jesus continues His teaching about the importance of staying watchful for the end and His Second Coming. We are like virgins carrying oil in their lamps, needing light while we wait for the Groom to return.
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His main point that is that every individual needs to be personally prepared and vigilant in obedience to God. It is foolish to neglect preparedness.
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Verses 8-10. You will not be able to survive on someone else's relationship with God. You will not be able to succeed during the time of the end if you depend on someone else's relationship with God—or someone else's oil—to survive.
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In other words, you need to have your own relationship with God, your own maturity, your own obedience, your own diligence, and your own resources. Don't neglect yourself now, falling into sin, or you will suffer later. Instead, “take heed to yourself” (1 Timothy 4:16).
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Verse 12. If you wait to get serious about following Jesus until the end comes, it will be too late.
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When the end comes, we will know who is truly a believer, because counterfeit believers will easily fall away, and we will know that Christ does not know them.
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Verses 14-30
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When Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven (to go to a far country, and to later return), He gave gifts to us (Ephesians 4:7-8).
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The Holy Spirit itself, our spiritual gifts, the Scriptures, our time, our bodies, our relationships, our money...all these things are entrusted to us by God. All that we have is given to us by God, so that we'll use it well.
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Verse 15. Each of us are given what we can handle. Each person's gifts and capacity will be different. Don't despise what you have in your life, even if you feel it is little. Simply seek to grow your skills and ability.
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Verses 20-23. To be faithful with what we have, or to use it well, means to gain more from what we started with. Examples:
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For spiritual gifts, it means growing the effectiveness of your gifts, to edify others.
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For money, it means gaining more wealth to use for the kingdom.
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For people, it means winning more souls to the kingdom for salvation.
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Think about what you have, how you can increase it, and take action with clear plans. Imagine the Lord returned today. Would you be ready to say what you were given, what you did with it, and what you gained from it?
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Verse 29a. If you increase well, more gain and favor will be added to you.
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Verses 24-27,29b-30. Doing nothing to gain more, or to increase what you have, is laziness and wickedness.
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Neglect of yourself or your faith is dangerous.
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Verse 28. Even your spiritual gifts can be taken away from you and given to someone else.
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Verses 31-45
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The saved and unsaved will be separated into two groups when Christ returns.
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Who is a believer and who is not will be known clearly, so that there will be no more mistaking (see commentary on the Parable of the Wheat and Tares in Matthew 13).
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For those of us who are saved, living well and serving Christ well means serving others well. To love others is to love Christ. Serve others well!
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If you live your life to serve and help others, you will be a good steward of what you have.
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Unbelievers will be known, in part, by the fact that they did not live to serve Christ or others, but only to serve themselves.
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Living selfishly is living like an unbeliever. Don't be selfish.
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