THREE boys on the outside of the shut door! Instead of going directly to school, as their mothers very likely told them to do, they have loitered on the way. Maybe they have met other boys and stopped to talk and play with them. And now, when they have reached the school, the time is up, the door is closed, and they are shut out. Do they feel happy about it? O! no; one of them is crying, and no doubt they all feel troubled, for they know that punishment awaits them. They will get in by and by, but they will have to suffer for their naughtiness.
But there is another door which can never be entered after it is shut. Those who are shut out will have to be punished, but their punishment will not be inside. It is the coming Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, who will shut that door. Those who are ready will enter with Him when He comes; those who are not ready will be left outside. When the door is shut, they will raise the sad cry: “Lord, Lord, open to us.” The Lord will hear their cry of anguish, but only to answer it by these solemn words: “I know you not.”
When the Lord Jesus comes and takes His own, will you be on the inside or on the outside of that closed door, my young reader? If you are ready, you will surely enter in; but what is it that will make you ready?
Do you say that you believe in Jesus, and that you own Him as your Lord? If that be really true, then all is well; but a great many people listen to the glad tidings of salvation, and say, they believe, and then go their own way and do their own will, not owning Jesus as Lord. It is not enough simply to say we are His: God wants reality, and if there is reality, our lives will show that we are followers of Jesus. O! has the love of God touched your heart, and are you seeking to walk in the footsteps of Jesus? If so, then you are ready and you will enter in when the Lord Jesus comes. Until then, may your light be burning brightly. The wise “virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.”
Have you not found Jesus yet as your Saviour? Do not delay, I beg of you! Get your lamp filled with oil, now, for soon the Bridegroom will come, and then it will be forever too late. Do not wait even one day, lest the door be shut and you be found on the outside.
ML 01/02/1916