There are many ways to use our allotted time. Let us use it wisely in the service of our Master in whatever ways we are able.
Out of the Blue Comes the Whitest Wash
February 11
A prevalent and penetrating aspect of our lives is advertising, all based on the fact that advertising sells, i.e., good advertising. Advertising is found in many different kinds of media and is directed at every segment of society. And all of the senses are attacked or teased.
What is the best ad that you have ever seen or heard? In my estimation, the best was a full–page magazine ad from a long time ago, showing a graceful sailboat under full sail, scudding over a beautiful blue lake with the sailboat leaving in its wake waves of purest white. The single caption, all the printing on the page except for the advertiser’s name, in small letters at the foot was this: “Out of the blue comes the whitest wash.” The advertiser, Reckett’s Blue, sold little bags of bluing that were dropped into the washing to whiten clothes.
Strange, isn’t it, that blue should make white things whiter . . . dull things brighter. “Out of the blue comes the whitest wash.”
That’s what James had in mind when he wrote: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:2–3).
In his first epistle, Peter writes: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith . . . may be proved . . . ” (1Peter 1:6–7).
The Psalmist adds this comforting thought:
“Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b).
“Out of the blue comes the whitest wash.”
Reverence
February 12
In the thinking of many in our day and age, God has been relegated to a minor position in His own creation. To countless people, man, not God, is the measure of all things. Some seemingly religious persons go a dangerous step further, saying that we human beings are really gods ourselves. Many believe that we have the power within ourselves to solve all our own—and the world’s—problems.
Just pick up a newspaper or watch TV news, and you will readily conclude that with all our technological knowledge and whatever superior qualities we think we possess, the world is in a greater mess than perhaps at any other time in history.
David, the psalmist, though he was Israel’s greatest king and probably its most skilful general, was one who was very reverent and humbly respectful of God and His creation. He was likely outside one night, looking up . . . and the awesome experience impelled him to write the Psalm, which we designate, the eighth.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor
(Psalm 8:3–5).
After adding further to the list of humankind’s God–given blessings, he reverently concludes in the last verse of the Psalm: O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
That puts the whole matter in proper perspective.
The Footsteps of Thy Soul
February 13
Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning were both eminent British poets of the nineteenth century.
One morning in their home, Elizabeth slipped a manuscript into her husband’s pocket saying: “Please read this; if you don’t like it, tear it up.” Then she fled back upstairs while Robert Browning sat down to read one of the noblest love sequences ever written by a woman to the man of her choice. Hidden in one of these “Sonnets from the Portuguese” is this line: “The face of all the world is changed, I think, since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul.”
Fine sentiments as we approach Valentine’s Day.
For most of us, these words have a rich, deep meaning on a human level. Beyond that, they have a vibrant meaning on a spiritual level. Indeed, true human love has a significantly spiritual aspect about it.
The true love we show all mankind is really reflected love from God. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). In 1 John 3:11 we read: “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” And in the great love chapter of the Bible,
1 Corinthians 13, Paul writes: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love never fails . . . And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
And you and I can say of our master (paraphrasing Elizabeth Barrett Browning): “The face of all the world is changed, since first I heard the footsteps of Thy soul.” God is love.
St. Valentine’s Day
February 14
Pansies are a beautiful flower and are said to be the emblem of love. Today, of course, is the day of love, St. Valentine’s Day. Indeed another name for pansy is heartsease.
The origin of St. Valentine’s Day is a bit obscure. Apparently, it can be traced back to one or two St. Valentines. Seemingly, the sending of cards and flowers such as pansies has no relation to the saints or any incidents in their lives.
I can see, however, one single connection between the day we celebrate—February 14—and the Christian faith of the saints, and that is the emphasis on love. Yet the meaning of love is quite different.
“God is love,” writes the Apostle John in his first epistle, and he goes on to describe love. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear . . . The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Then he adds: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:18–19). John had written earlier: “No one has seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (1 John 4:12).
An expert in Jewish law, a Pharisee, approached Jesus one day with this question: “Teacher,” he said, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus responded very directly: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:36–40).
In other words, these two statements—love for God and love for each other—are at the heart of all the other commandments, including the Ten Commandments and many more.
Hopefully, this sort of love—our love for God, God’s love for us, and our love for one another—will dominate our thinking this St. Valentine’s Day.
Sharing Similarities
February 15
You no doubt have heard about the striking similarities between the lives and deaths of US presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. Mr. Lincoln was elected to the US Congress in 1846, Mr. Kennedy in 1946. Lincoln became president in 1860, Kennedy in 1960. Both were succeeded by vice presidents with the name of Johnson. Lincoln’s assassin shot him in a theatre and fled to a warehouse. Kennedy’s assassin shot him from a warehouse and fled to a theatre. Both assassins were themselves killed before