When a candle burns, it’s mostly the wax, not the wick, that’s burning. An oil lamp is the same; it must be the oil that burns, and not the wick. If the wick burns without oil, it will be consumed quickly. Most of the wick must be deeply immersed in the oil, so only a small part of the wick is exposed to the air and flame.

Sometimes we work too hard, trying to do everything ourselves when we need to let Jesus do it through us. When we do the burning, we give off smoke and soot and burn out fast, but when we let the Lord’s oil, the Holy Spirit, flow through us and do the burning, we last a long time.

“It is no longer I who burn, but Christ burns in me” (Galatians 2:20 paraphrased).
—David Brandt Berg (1919–1994)