'Let your loins be girded about, and your lights
burning; 36. And ye yourselves like unto men that wait
for their Lord.'--Luke xii. 35, 36.
These words ought to stir us like the sound of a trumpet. But, by long
familiarity, they drop upon dull ears, and scarcely produce any effect.
The picture that they suggest, as an emblem of the Christian state, is
a striking one. It is midnight, a great house is without its master,
the lord of the palace is absent, but expected back, the servants are
busy in preparation, each man with his robe tucked about his middle,
in order that it may not interfere with his work, his lamp in his hand
that he may see to go about his business and his eye ever turned to
the entrance to catch the first sign of the coming of his master. Is
that like your Christian life? If we are His servants that is what we
ought to be, having three things--girded loins, lighted lamps, waiting
hearts. These are sharp tests, solemn commandments, but great
privileges, for blessedness as well as strength, and calm peace whatever
happens, belong to those who obey these injunctions and have these
things.