Make Your Own Light

The Celestial Kingdom is compared to the glory of the Sun, and the Terrestrial Kingdom is compared to the glory of the moon. The sun has the fuel to create its own light, but the moon can only reflect or borrow its light from the sun. This reminds me of the Parable of the ten virgins. We can think of the wise virgins as those who are faithful enough to enter into the Celestial Kingdom. They have gathered enough Spiritual oil to create their own light, just as the sun does. The foolish virgins, although they are faithful and righteous enough to have been invited to the wedding, nevertheless they are like the moon in that they can only try to borrow the light, but have not taken the time and effort to build up a reservoir of Spiritual oil so that they might make their own light. The glory of the moon or of a lamp without oil is that of a passive follower of Christ. Those in the Terrestrial Kingdom may love the light but are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to come fully unto Christ and become fully like Him, as a being capable of generating their own light. It is not enough to show up to church and wait around for others to hand over their oil and their light to us. We have to be anxiously engaged in doing good and creating our own light. There are always going to be areas in our lives where we are more like the sun and others where we are more like the moon, but if we have the courage and humility to acknowledge the times when we are merely trying to borrow light instead of make it ourselves, then we can have the humility to ask the Lord to help us transform from a moon into a sun.