I can honestly say that this weeks class was "for me." So many parts of the lesson I was able to relate back to my life. There were so many good points that I wish I could bring up but because I don't want this to be too long I can only pick one. The one I have chosen is the parable of the 10 virgins found in Matthew 25:1-12. I was able to learn more than one thing from this simple parable.
We all know this parable (if you aren't familiar with it just read it :) ) When we first read it we often think of the message from the parable just simply being "be prepared" This is a good message, but as we as a class dove deeper into the parable we found much more to it. Who were this 10 women? They were virgins, the were holy women. They were, in a sense, disciples of God. However, 5 of these disciples had oil for their lamps and were able to go to the wedding feast and 5 of these disciples didn't have oil and weren't able to participate in the wedding feast. If these 10 women were all disciples how is that only half were able to participate in the wedding celebrations? Just because someone says they are a disciple does not mean they will be "saved a spot" with the Savior when final judgement comes.
These 10 virgins had lamps. Some with oil some without. These are very symbolic. The lamp is the symbol of a testimony. The oil is a sign of conversion. What is the difference between the two? Someone can go to church, say they're a disciple, and do all the outwardly things that would lead one to view them as a disciple of Christ. But just because someone has an outward appearance doesn't mean they are sincere. The oil, or the conversion, is the action that is filled with faith. Conversion means that you are true in what you believe, all the way. Half of these women didn't have true conversion that would've led them to act in preparation for the bride groom. The other half had the conversion that led them to preparation for the up coming events. We need to make sure that we not only have a testimony but oil as well. If we have oil we will be more able to make faith filled choices that will lead us to becoming more like Christ, and that will bring us closer to Him.
After this lesson our professor mentioned that when we have lamps full of oil we will be able to make our big choices in life better. He then drew a line full of ups and downs. He told us that in life we are going to have big choices whether it's getting married, taking a large step by doing a big service, going on a mission, and so forth...If we address these choices with fear and make a choice with only fear contributing to our decision we will have made the wrong choice. For example, if someone wants to get married but fears they aren't financially stable so they decided to not get married this is a bad choice. Our professor told us we need to pray for our "lamps to be filled" so we can be filled with faith, and have courage with our Saviors help. Only then can we make choices about these big steps of life. This really effected me. The day I was in this class I was struggling with a big choice in my life. This choice is going to cost a lot of money and i was starting to have doubts and fears. I was a step away from pulling the plug. But after this I realized that I can apply this to my life. We need to allow our testimonies to go past just saying "we have one." We need to truly be converted (have oil) so when we are faced with life's choices we can make the right ones based on faith instead of fear.
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