Articles
Too Late
The foolish virgins of Christ’s parable (Matthew 25:1-13) faced the fact that there is a point
in life at which no excuses will avail.
The door was shut. There is absolutely nothing to be done about it. All action should have
been taken beforehand. Now it is too late.
But the important thing to remember, is that the arrival of the bridegroom was when the
point of hopelessness occurred, and all that will go on now, could have been changed, if they had
been continually ready.
Many of us are going to do great things — tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes. For the
only day we have is today. And this corrupting habit of running behind schedule — even in small
things — has for its inevitable result the bringing of us face to face with a shut door.
The demand that life makes on all of us is to be ready at all times, to live neither in the past
nor in the future but in the present.
Until we learn that lesson we cannot escape the certain consequence that we shall one day
stand, sorrowful but too late, before the one door through which we desire to enter but cannot —
because it is shut. ~Leaves of Gold
“And this, knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep: for now
is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far spent, and the day is at
hand” (Romans 13:11-12).
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will
come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).
“For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.
Today, oh that you would hear His voice! Harden not your heart” (Psalms 95:7-8).
