Editorial August 14, 1943 Issue

Our "useful surroundings"

Evelyn F. Heywood

The individual is inclined to regard his surroundings as either an asset or a liability. The Jews, inordinately proud of the strategic position of Jerusalem, built above its precipitous ravines, regarded it as well-nigh impregnable, a very Gibraltar of defense. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever," sang the Psalmist.

But the history of fortresses, ancient and modern, is a proof, many times over, that walls and location are no protection from assault and capture. Christ Jesus prophesied the fall of Jerusalem, because he knew this; he beheld going on in the lives of his own people that inner dissolution, the result of ruling God out of their hearts. He revealed and demonstrated where alone impregnability is to be found—in Soul.

We see that, from the first, Christ Jesus made valuable use of his environment, adapting it always to his highest purpose. He faithfully served his human filial apprenticeship, he preached in the synagogues, he dined with publicans, he went to the wedding in Galilee, he moved among people. The surroundings with which he was familiar, the people whom he knew, and who knew him, he did not ignore or despise. From them he selected his friends, his patients, his audiences; from them he chose his disciples.

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