My Version

Once there were ten virgins

They were all very chaste,

All were highly moral

But five became a waste.

Five virgins were self-righteous

While five accepted God’s grace,

These five lived at wisdom’s gate

The other five were the other place.

All had oil in their lamps

And walked the Christian way

But not all had oil in store

Just in case there was a delay.

It is most difficult at times

To tell the difference between

Those who are really royalty

And the real king and queen.

And so it was with these virgins

As they walked along the way

But like the wheat and the tears

Were separated on harvest day.

Five to me were professors

And really lived for the show,

Their lamps were shining brightly,

What a luminous glow!

They shone for the world to see

On light they themselves had powered

And only too late they realized

When it ran out before the hour.

The wise virgins on the other hand

Had oil on which they could depend

So that when the bridegroom came

Theirs was the desired end.

I liken the foolish virgins

To many avid churchgoers

Who dot their eyes and cross their “T’s”

But were never really insiders.

  

That’s a peculiar word I’ll admit

But let me explain what I mean

Since a number of denominations

Can’t get past this initial scene.

There must be an initiation

Of the believer into Christ,

There must be an appreciation

For his atoning sacrifice.

But often people come to church

As the answer to their plight

But the idea of being born again

Is never within their sight. 

Take Nicodemus for example

He was a teacher of the Jews

But the born again experience

Was not even within his view.

Yet he walked like a believer

With his lamp trimmed and bright

But no oil for the complete journey;

It wouldn’t last through the night.

The self-righteous oil in our lamps

Is not nearly sufficient,

We need the oil of the Spirit

That is abundant and efficient.

You see at the point of salvation

The oil of the Spirit comes in,

It is really at this juncture

That we are cleansed from our sin.

This is the initiation into Christ

To which I earlier alluded,

Without this oil in the inner man

Such a one will never be included.

This is where the virgins differ

As to they being wise or foolish,

They that had more oil than in their lamps

Were the ones that got their wish.

The ones who felt their oil was enough

Clearly suffered in their cause,

None of us will make it into heaven

If we merely keep God’s laws.

That being the mission impossible

Was what Jesus came and achieved

To make the impossible possible

And now salvation all can receive.

We need not walk as the foolish

We can now walk as the wise

With oil in our lamps and in storage

Lest that day take us by surprise.

I don’t think the virgins were all saved

They were neither saved nor safe,

With oil only in their lamps they were lost

Never an insider in the first place.

Insiders are born again

And are indwelt by the Holy Spirit,

He is the oil that really matters

Not the show that comes from habit.

The Pharisees were very adept

At keeping their light ablaze

But when Jesus stopped then in their tracks

They were utterly amazed.

Their light was only counterfeit

And had simply misled a lot

Who without the genuine light of Christ

Could not their own error spot.

Such are today’s foolish virgins

Only catering to the here and now

Satisfied the oil in their lamps is sufficient

And will get them over somehow.

If this is how you are thinking

From such disabuse your mind,

Not even your religion can save you

If you follow this foolish kind.

Ensure you are Holy Spirit powered

Accept Jesus into your life,

A mere walk without Christ as Saviour

Is the recipe for eternal strife.

Stewart Russell © June, 2017