Husband, father, and Anglican priest living in the North Georgia Mountains. Sermons, reflections, and articles promoting the "Ancient Faith for Modern Times". Subscribe below to get the latest posts in your inbox.
The proper response is neither complacency nor despair. We do not presume upon God's patience, and we do not imagine that our standing before him rests upon an impressive record of achievement. We repent, trust in Christ, and serve faithfully with what he has entrusted to us.
Here is the parable's searching insight: the foolish virgins were not surprised that the bridegroom came. They were unprepared for him to come. There is a difference between believing Christ will return and living in faith because Christ will return.
Others raised children, cared for aging parents, worked faithfully, and prayed for neighbors who never knew their names. All Saints’ Day reminds us that the Lord sees the quiet faithfulness the world overlooks, and that the same grace is at work in his people now.
All Saints does not celebrate only the great names of Christian history. It gathers our attention toward the whole company of the redeemed, known and unknown, whose lives have been made holy by the grace of God.
That is the pattern of the Gospel itself. Christ does not wait for sinners to make themselves useful and then recruit the best candidates. He calls. He chooses. He forgives. He forms. He sends. Whatever faithfulness follows is the fruit of grace that came first.
Their obscurity does not mean their work was unimportant. It means importance and visibility are not the same thing. This truth is particularly encouraging for ordinary Christian vocation. Most believers will never become historically notable, nor is that the calling God has given them.