February 6, 2026
I Need More Time
Matthew 25:1-2, 10 – Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise… And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
The student stares at the exam schedule posted outside the lecture hall. Final exam in three days. She’s known about it for weeks—it’s been on the syllabus since day one. Yet here she stands, textbook unopened, notes scattered somewhere in her dorm room, suddenly aware that cramming seventy-two hours before won’t compensate for a semester of neglect. She needs more time. But time, indifferent to her wishes, continues its steady march forward.
Jesus told a parable about this very reality. Five virgins found themselves unprepared at the critical moment, their lamps flickering out as the bridegroom arrived. Their desperate search for oil came too late; they returned to find a closed door and the haunting words, “I do not know you.”
Some opportunities, once passed, cannot be reclaimed. Some doors, once closed, remain shut. Noah’s contemporaries had decades to respond to his warnings until the rain began and the ark was sealed. The rich man who ignored Lazarus discovered the chasm between them was fixed and impassable. Felix, upon hearing Paul’s message, responded, “When I find it convenient, I will send for you” (Acts 24:25)—yet Scripture never records that convenient time arriving.
The tragedy isn’t that God arbitrarily imposes deadlines, but that life’s very nature contains them. Spiritual formation isn’t instantaneous; it’s cultivated over time. Character isn’t developed in a moment; it’s built through thousands of small choices. Relationship with God isn’t established in a last-second transaction but through ongoing communion.
The wise virgins in Jesus’ parable weren’t frantically worried; they were simply prepared. They recognized the irreplaceable nature of time. Their wisdom lay not in extraordinary insight but in ordinary faithfulness—doing today what they might otherwise postpone until tomorrow.
Today’s Prayer: Lord, guard me against assuming I’ll always have more time. Amen.
Reflection Question: What spiritual preparation have you been postponing?