A Battle Between Oil or Dry Bones

At IHOP people have multiple positions, titles and jobs. It's not shocking to hear that your favorite worship leader might also serve you your coffee every Monday morning. Even those that seem like they do nothing or just one thing have a plethora of hidden talents and one day you'll see the section prayer and usher leader center stage with an acoustic guitar worshipping the God who made him. Singers and musicians make their way around the merry-go-round of instruments and some even finish the day off with a sermon to a 1000 thirsty souls. Misty Edwards is one of these singer-musician-preacher-everything-ers and she does it well. Today she tackled the speaking portion and did…well how Misty always does—phenomenal. I have heard her live a few times, in fact my favorite word ever heard was spoken from her lips as she broke down in detail the sustaining beauty of God described in Isaiah 40. But this afternoon, when taking us through the Parable of the Ten Virgins as she paced back and forth with her Misty Edwards one-of-a-kind strut I realized why I love her so much. Why every time she speaks my heart breaks and I find myself re-committing my passion for Jesus. Why that same Isaiah 40 message gives me new bullet wounds when I hear it. It's not because of her mad piano skills, perfect pitch, or even perfect dreads (although every time I see them I want them on my own head). But as she talked, and sometimes yelled, the truth and my heart beat faster with adrenaline it became clear that she is truly madly in love with Jesus. She knows Him as a friend, as a soon to be Bridegroom, as a Jewish man that is also fully God who died for her and so in return she will give her everything to be where He is. When she speaks the name Jesus it is not just a person she reads about or hears from a story like a game of telephone. To her, Jesus is someone she actually knows and enjoys. You can tell that she has spent time with Him—sitting at His feet, dining with Him, feasting on His glory.

This behavior Misty exudes mirrors the exact point she was trying to make with the parable. In Matthew 25 Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to the likeness of 10 virgins preparing to meet the bridegroom. Most likely "virgin" is in reference to the redeemed and the "lamps" their ministries, so they were 10 believers who not only loved Jesus, but also had ministries about and for Him. The only difference between them is that five virgins brought oil and the other five did not.  The oil is the sustainer of the lamp; in this case it represents intimacy and relationship with Jesus. Jesus is explaining that we need a deep connection to Him in order for anything we do to be effective. We can accomplish things on a mass level for the body of Christ and make it look pretty from the outside, but underneath it can still be a valley of dry bones. The five virgins that brought oil practiced the First and Great commandment and put intimacy above all else. The other five were like the church of Ephesus who forgot their first love. They became lost in ministry and ignored the importance of getting to know their bridegroom on a personal level. He gives us the invitation to the wedding feast, but in order to go we must know Him. “Knowing Jesus” is having a conversation with Him. Asking Him questions and listening for the response—taking time to hang out with Him. It is vital that we learn from the five virgins that wasted their life and emptied their oil. Misty Edwards can speak a good word, sing a beautiful song, but if she herself does not have a living, breathing relationship with God it means nothing in the end except foolishness. She knows this reality. She knows it is a fight against complacency; a battle between oil or dry bones, foolishness or the wise, Because everything in life is unto death, unto persecution, unto that one day when Jesus comes back and I do not want to be a foolish virgin with an empty lamp. I want the oil before the lamp, the intimacy before the multitude. I want ministry as a secondary—an after thought in comparison to personal relationship with Him. I want to sit before Him on that Day of Judgment, look into His eyes that burn with flames of fire and have Him say, “Holly I know you and you know me."