Cotton-Down and the Bullet: Concentration in Christian Service

Maclaren seizes upon a single, luminous image to expose the spiritual laziness that masquerades as faith. The picture is midnight—the master absent, servants waiting with loins girded, lamps burning, eyes fixed upon the entrance. But the girded loins demand more than mere readiness; they demand concentration. Here Maclaren deploys his most powerful illustration: "You can take a handful of cotton-down, and if you will squeeze it tight enough, it will be as hard and as heavy as a bullet and will go as far, and have as much penetrating power and force of impact."…