Queen Wilhelmina
in an address reported in
Algemeen Handelsblad
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

[Original Article in Dutch]

We are at the crossroads, with a choice before us of making a better world by freeing ourselves from the power of evil, or of going the way of disintegration. We cannot go in both directions. The choice is one for sober thought and sound judgment, for it is unavoidable.

Is there not at the base of all the problems confronting us a profound human problem: the vital question of man versus society, which must first be worked out with God, if we are to meet the problems of these times? Above all, men and communities need a sense of security and a fixed standard by which to measure good and evil, and they need unselfishness and brotherly love. In other words, they need a spiritual foundation on which to build a better world, a world in which that spiritual force comes into its own.

It is evident that our thoughts are reaching out to Christ [Jesus], who laid this foundation and gave the world the solution to this very vexing problem which confronts it. I know that many who are looking for a way out of the difficulties of our times see him not only in the well-loved presentation, but also in this new light.

To each is given the possibility of finding the way from the world we see about us to that yet invisible. As in the parable of the talents, he who buries his in the ground gains nothing, but the one who puts his to work gets a return.

Rome News-Tribune
Georgia

The prime trouble is that too many persons assume that religion has no place in business, politics, or the everyday affairs of life; that it is something which alone concerns the church and its activities.

God is left out, as though peace may be brought to the world and humanity brought into co-operative mood without the assistance or guidance of the Almighty. Against this neglect of the will of God and this reliance upon human wisdom rather than divine wisdom, all history cries out. Neglect of God is back of all the conflicts that have torn the world through past centuries and back of all the brutalities that have attended these repeated conflicts. This fact no student of events can refute.

And the same is true of all the costly conflicts that are waged outside the arena of war. Industrial strife, with its frequent casualties and its staggering financial costs, stems from the same neglect of the principles espoused by the creator. Men determine to fight it out instead of praying it out, and great losses and great suffering result.... This forgetfulness of God, this avoidance of the solemn obligation of Christian citizenship, leads inevitably to disappointment, if not to disaster.

The Rev. Ashley Day Leavitt
as quoted in
The Boston Herald, Massachusetts

When we seek religion it must be for its own great worth. There is a danger in these days that the Christian faith will be presented as an alternative to the destruction which many people feel is just around the corner. The world needs Christianity if it is to be saved, but man must seek it because the love of God is the only answer to the hunger in our human hearts.

The Rev. John B. Nettleship
The Expository Times
Edinburgh, Scotland

"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip" (Hebr. 2:1).

The power of the Gospel for life depends largely upon the heed, the attention, the response which we give to it. The fact that Christ [Jesus] lived, died, and rose again means very little until man responds to those facts and realizes their significance for his own life. ... Books cannot enlighten us unless we read them. Why are men so slow to grasp this truth in spiritual things? The fact that God has spoken is of little avail unless men are disposed to listen. That Christ is the way of life means little unless men seek to walk in that way and live that life. "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard." This is a challenge to us to take our religion more seriously, and it is a challenge of which none of us can say, That doesn't apply to me.

The words "earnest heed" have a note of urgency about them. The writer is warning us that here is something which cannot be relegated to second place in our interests. The power and effectiveness of our religion, both in our own lives and in the lives of all with whom we come in contact, will be in due proportion to the heed, the thought, the time, the energy which we give to it.

Yet for how many of us are things like prayer and Bible reading and public worship apt to become secondary things—things to be fitted in with our other arrangements, or left out all together if they can't be fitted in conveniently. For Jesus, spiritual things were supreme. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." We on the other hand tend to seek first comfort, security, pleasure, and then devote time and energy which we happen to have left over to spiritual concerns.

In all our undertakings we must strive to think of ourselves as spiritual beings with a spiritual purpose to fulfill. All that we do must be done "as to the Lord, and not unto men."

Julian C. McPheeters
The Christian Advocate
Chicago, Illinois

The worship of any other thing or person besides the true God sends men into bondage and slavery. The First Commandment reads, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

Many people have fallen into the mistaken belief that this commandment refers only to graven images. Indeed it does refer to graven images, but at the same time it means more. It means anything that comes before God in your life.

No thing or interest should come before God, whether that thing or interest is recreation, pleasure, business, money, achievement, or success. You will become a slave to anything that you allow to stand between you and God.

The Rev. A. L. Roth
Westward, Detroit, Michigan

"No man can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24). As a preacher and a teacher Jesus was a master in the use of parables. But he also made effective use of proverbs that were in common use in ancient times.

The above sentence from the Sermon on the Mount is believed to have been one such proverb. It acquired the status of a proverb because it represents what is called self-evident truth. "No man can serve two masters." That's why the Christian life, to be started right, must begin with a sharp choice and decision, and also the reason why a Christian life not so begun so often fades out into disappointing progress and results.

Ernest J. Barson
Beckenham Journal
Bromley, Kent, England

Someone has said, "Religion consists not in what a man thinks best but in what he puts first." The problem for many people today is to know what to include and what to leave out. No priority was given to Mary when she sought the hospitality of Bethlehem. Nor will the church be given priority in the competing claims upon life today, unless those who claim that privilege themselves in their own lives give first place to the best things.