Thought for the Day ~ 01 April, 2025 A.D.

"Thought," says a Christian church father, "is the sleepless lamp of the soul." It is a lamp, indeed, that burns with varying brightness – flaming up in moments of intense study and utterance, and dying down in sleep till there is only the pale glimmer that remains in dreams.

But it is a lamp that is never really quenched, for however profound the slumber, it only requires a word to wake us and to bring all our mental powers into instant activity. Thus must it be with the holy lamp of watchfulness – always trimmed and burning, but not of necessity shining always in full strength.

That is to say, we need not be every moment thinking of Christ's return, talking of it, and preaching it. There should be ever in our  hearts the calm certainty and the sober hope that keep us ready for this event at any moment. But this hope should rather minister to us than be ministered to by us. Instead of perpetually dwelling on it and reiterating it, we should be lighted by it in our busy toil of gathering the guests for the marriage feast, and doing the work which our absent Lord has committed to us. 

Ready always to give to every man that asketh a reason for the hope that is in us, we should yet show the value of our lamp by the holy service into which it guides our feet, and the diligent piety which it makes visible in our lives.

-preacher A. J. Gordon