Another Spring – Sunday, March 28, 1954
Since we are assured that Spring has constantly recurred for so many centuries, we should not, perhaps, be awed or overly impressed by its coming once again—but Spring never ceases to be an unbelievable miracle and an unforgettable memory. If the Creator were not still creating (or if the law of chance were ever to take over), we should not know if there should ever be another Spring.
But blessedly the Creator still keeps creation in its course, and blessedly we have come once more upon this hopefu1, renewing, restoring season. Spring is the symbol, the reality, the fulfillment of faith. It is, in a sense, …“the substance of things hoped for . . .”1 It is the harbinger of the harvest. It is a symbol and assurance of love and life, of hope and happiness; and a symbol that we ourselves shall come forth to a newness of life. All this Spring is—and much more.
It is a time for filling in the ruts of winter, the ruts that have held us in narrow ways: the ruts of cramped thinking, the ruts of narrow living, the ruts of trivial talking, the ruts that keep our very lives too narrowly confined. Spring invites us to wrench ourselves out of the winter-worn ruts.
It is also a reminder of the principle of repentance, of the cleaning out of litter left by winter winds, of the washing away of smudge on walls and windows. There is nothing in life quite like the feeling of cleanness: of clean clothes, clean houses, cleanliness of person, clean hands, and hearts—of the sense of cleanness that comes with clearing out dark thoughts, with putting out prejudice and pettiness, and repenting of the past.
There is much of scripture on the quality of cleanliness, “For this ye know, that no … unclean person hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”2 Spring invites us to wash what should be washed away and to take a fresh, clean look at ourselves and our surroundings.
Somehow, we think of Spring, when we read the words in Genesis, as God looked out upon the evening of the sixth day and saw everything that He had made, and “behold, it was very good.”3 It was very good, and it is very good—as men themselves will let it be so.
And with the cleanness that can come with Spring, with a willingness of spirit and humility of heart, we can have on earth, we can have in life, the faith, the hope, the sweet and everlasting assurance that this blessed season unfailingly suggests.
1Hebrews 11:1
2Ephesians 5:5
3Genesis 1:31
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March 28, 1954
Broadcast Number 1,284