In Matthew 25, Jesus offered three pictures of judgment: the 10 virgins, the 3 men entrusted with talents, and the sheep and goats. In every case there was a group who prepared and a group who didn't. There was a group who felt like they were ready; or, at least, decided they could just "coast" through life and everything would be fine.
1. We must prepare! We must think ahead. I'm not talking about those people who have bomb shelters and stockpiles of food and medical equipment in their basement. But perhaps we must be just as radical on the spiritual side of life. Why push ourselves to know more and more about God? Don't we know enough? Don't we know the story of Jesus already? Why do we need to continue to study?
2. We must develop! It's not enough to just sit on the resources God has given us. Consider Romans 12:6-8: "Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness."
3. We must do good works! Remember the book of Matthew was written directly to Jews. Here is a group of people who thought they were God's blessing to mankind (when in fact, they were the blessed ones because God chose them out of all the nations). On judgment day, it seems there will be those who THINK they are in who will be terribly upset at the truth. But the sheep seem surprised, too. They will say, "Lord, when did we give You a drink or give You food?" Perhaps they were not doing those good works to obtain a prize. Perhaps they were doing good works because that's who they were - children of God!
Nathan