Today’s household object may not be present for everyone, since it depends on a person’s vision! The object is spectacles (glasses) and the Bible passage is 2 Peter 1:5-11.

In this passage, Peter urges us to add to our faith goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love. Possessing these qualities, he says, will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge of Jesus; without these qualities, we are nearsighted and blind, forgetting that we have been cleansed from our past sins.

To be nearsighted is to struggle to see what is right under our noses, and is something that usually happens as we get older. Even people who have had perfect vision when younger may struggle with near-sightedness as they get older, needing ‘reading glasses’ in later life. I have been short-sighted most of my life, struggling to see objects at a distance, and so have needed glasses since the age of five. Whatever our visual problem, spiritually we often fail to see what God is doing in our lives and in our world. We tend to focus on what we can see naturally, failing to understand that He calls us to live by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7)

Peter reminds us that character is more important than possessions and that to live without a constant awareness of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus will render us unproductive in spiritual matters. We need the daily reminder of God’s love from His word and to spend time with Him reminding ourselves of what really matters if we are to be fruitful and productive for God.

Today’s household object is the toothbrush and our passage is Exodus 21:23-27, with reference also to Matthew 5:38-41.

Brushing our teeth is a daily habit which helps to remove plaque from teeth and keeps them healthy. It’s something we teach our children to do from a young age, and becomes part of our daily cleansing rituals. A failure to do so can result in teeth falling out and can affect our eating, speaking and appearance. A failure to engage in this daily dental ritual can bring judgment in the form of real, inconvenient and painful consequences.

We are advised to spend two minutes brushing our teeth in order to ensure it is effective. Two minutes is not a long time, but can seem quite long when you have an excessively strong gag reflex as I do! We often find it hard to concentrate in prayer, which is why perhaps we need to embed prayer as strongly into our daily routines as we do washing and brushing our teeth. God’s word is given to guide us and help us; we need to heed its warnings and instructions (and not simply search for its promises!) so that we can live long and fruitful lives.

The World Day of Prayer locally was held yesterday (1 March) at St Peter’s Church in Barnburgh. The service was written by Palestinian Christians on the theme ‘bearing with one another in love’, and we enjoyed the percussion instruments as we sang and the different props for use during the service (we extended the olive branch of peace to each other, for example.)

The beautiful church hall was decorated with paper angels and we loved having refreshments after the service.

The author continues looking at household objects connected with cleansing, with today’s object the bath and today’s Bible reading Luke 7:36-47, the passage where the woman breaks open the alabaster jar of perfume to wash and anoint Jesus before the crucifixion.

In Jesus’s time, having a bath was not an everyday occurrence; foot-washing was the standard activity for anyone welcoming a guest into their home. The woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and anointed him with perfume was only doing what the host, Simon, should have done. Luke makes it clear that the significance of this action is bound up in the woman’s awareness of forgiveness and points out, ‘Whoever has been forgiven little loves little.’ (Luke 7:47) Lent is a time when we need to ponder how much we have been forgiven and can then come to a new appreciation of what it cost Jesus to bring us into this new relationship.

Showers tend to be quicker than baths, where we can have the luxury of a long soak. We need to take time periodically to remember how far God has brought us and how much we have been forgiven.

In the midst of the ongoing trials of David in the wilderness, pursued by Saul whose obsession showed no sign of abating, Jonathan comes to find David and to offer wise words of encouragement which literally give him the heart to continue. (1 Sam 23:15-18) The world has a proverb ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed’, and that is certainly David’s experience. He must have felt discouraged and dismayed by the ongoing need to hide from Saul, to be on the run each day, but Jonathan’s visit must have greatly heartened him. Jonathan affirmed his loyalty and commitment to serving David (freely recognising that David has been anointed king of Israel by God Himself and that he will therefore be happy to play second fiddle to the kingship which will soon be David’s.) He also reminded David not to be afraid (a command repeated for every day of the year in the Bible – no matter what our situation, with God on our side, there is nothing to fear!) and repeated God’s word to him: “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” (1 Sam 23:17)

Encouragement is a spiritual gift which brings perspective to our difficult circumstances, and often involves saying the right words at the right time in an appropriate way. Prov 25:11 says, ‘Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances’; later in that same chapter, we read, ‘Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.’ (Prov 25:25) This is what David experienced at a tough time in his life, and we can be like Jonathan, bringing words of encouragement to others. Paul told the Thessalonians to ‘encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing’ (1 Thess 5:11), reminding them to ‘encourage the disheartened.’ (1 Thess 5:14) Barnabas, the son of encouragement, was great to encouraging; we too can be used by God to bring hope and courage to other people.