Lamps Still Burning

Be dressed ready for service and 

keep your lamps burning.

Luke 12:35 

Bible Reading: Luke 12:35–40

Have you ever waited late into the night for someone you love to arrive? At first, every sound catches your attention, but as the hours pass, it becomes harder to stay alert. Jesus uses a similar picture when He tells His disciples, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning” (Luke 12:35). Michael Card points out that this call to watchfulness comes just after Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (v. 32). The order is important. Jesus first assures His disciples that they are loved and then tells them to be ready. Christian watchfulness is not fearful anxiety about when Christ will return. It is the eager attentiveness of people waiting for Someone they love. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Jesus then gives the story a remarkable twist. If the master returns and finds his servants watching, “he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them” (Luke 12:37). The Master becomes the servant! We see this fulfilled beautifully when Jesus kneels and washes His disciples’ feet (John 13:4–5). The One for whom we wait is the One who came “not to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45). Oswald Chambers warns that we can become so absorbed in Christian work that we lose sight of Christ Himself. We can be busy doing things for Jesus while becoming less attentive to Jesus.

Keeping our lamps burning therefore means more than staying busy. It means living each day attentive to Christ—praying amid our responsibilities, listening when someone needs us, forgiving when we have been hurt, and responding when God gives us an opportunity to serve. The waiting may sometimes seem long, but Jesus says, “You also must be ready” (Luke 12:40). Good stewardship is not simply accomplishing more for the Master; it is remaining close to Him while faithfully using the time He has entrusted to us. We keep our lamps burning not because we fear His coming, but because we love the One for whom we wait.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, 

Keep our hearts attentive to Jesus amid the busyness of life. Help us serve with love, wait with hope, and keep our lamps burning until He comes. 

Amen.