We are all justified freely by His grace.
I love making chai. Ironically, I’m not a big tea-drinker myself, but over the years, I’ve become somewhat obsessed with crafting the perfect cup. And, with all humility, I can say my chai has become pretty famous among my friends. It’s frequently requested.
One Sunday after church, we had close friends over for lunch, along with a new couple visiting our church for the first time. After the meal, I offered to make chai for everyone. I grabbed a fresh bottle of milk from the fridge, carefully measured out the tea powder, sugar, and masala, and brewed what I thought would be a flawless batch.
However, after our guests had left, I asked my friends, “Was it me or did the chai taste… off?” My friend said, “I didn’t want to say anything in front of your guests, but… maybe the milk was spoiled?”
To my horror, they were right. I had opened a new bottle, but it turns out it had already been sitting in the fridge for a few weeks. 😬🥴 Yikes!
All that to say that, even the best chai makers can make mistakes. And that’s also one of the key points to understanding the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25).
Notice: all ten women in the story are described as virgins— pure and blameless. It wasn’t five virgins and five promiscuous women. No, all were virgins, all were waiting for the bridegroom.
And yet, all ten fell asleep. All ten let their lamps run low. They should have been awake and waiting for the bridegroom, but both the wise and foolish made mistakes.
We all mess up. We all fall short.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. – Romans 3:23-24
Even Jesus’ disciples—His closest friends—fell asleep when He asked them to watch and pray (Matthew 26:40-45).
Recognising that we’re sinners in need of a Saviour is the foundation of our faith. Jesus didn’t come for the righteous, but for sinners (like us) (1 Timothy 1:15–16))!
