Be dressed ready for service

We have to remember the graciousness of the Lord, the one who gives us his perfect light and not worry how people will react to it

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Be dressed, ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return. Luke 12:35

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp. Revelation 21:23

Back in the early 1920s, at a time of economic hardship following World War 1 and the influenza epidemic, a young woman and her fiancé were helpful to an elderly neighbour. They would walk her home from chapel meetings, down an unlit lane on dark evenings. The lady wanted to give the young couple an engagement gift, and searched at the back of her cupboard. The two objects were black, I am told, covered in melted wax, and barely recognisable as candlesticks.

The young man cleaned them on his father’s lathe and they emerged as dainty brass dressing table candlesticks (probably from before the time that bedrooms had gas lights!) ‘Old-fashioned’, but intended to be a token of gratitude, love and respect. With the old wax removed and new candles in place, they sparkled anew in my grandparents’ home, during both the Blitz and ‘normal’ life events.

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The lady took a risk of causing offence or being rejected by giving an ‘old-fashioned’ gift, but it was accepted in the right spirit of good will. The story reminds me of God’s promises relating to the lamp and the oil that He gives His children.

You O Lord, keep my lamp burning, my God turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop, with my God I can scale a wall.  Psalm 18:28-29

No-one lights a lamp and hides it…   Luke 8:16

Like that elderly lady, who was brave enough to get something out of her cupboard and put it where it would shine and be seen, we have to remember the graciousness of the Lord, the one who gives us his perfect light and not worry how people will react to it. After all, light is there to be seen and shared! 

‘to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven, to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.’ Luke 1:77-79

 

Author: Mandy Windridge

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