IVORY SOAP
When I was growing up, most of us took baths and not showers. Many
houses didn't even have showers in them. I really don't remember taking showers
before high school physical education classes. But I do remember that one strong
family tradition was Saturday night baths. Each member of our family took a
bath every Saturday night. I guess it was part of our preparation for going to
church on Sunday morning. We always wanted to look our best for God and
everyone else at church.
I haven't done a statistical analysis or even an informal study on
this, but my guess is that more of us now take showers than baths, or that we
take more showers than baths. I know that I do. But I still enjoy a long soak
in a good hot tub of water. It's one of my favorite places to read. In fact, I
even have a light installed over our tub for this very reason. Soaking in a hot
tub of water is really relaxing.
Recently while taking a bath, I dropped the bar of soap into the
water. It floated to the top, so I knew that it was a bar of Ivory soap. I
remembered that I had read an interesting story about how Ivory soap came into
existence.
Over a hundred years ago, a soap maker named William Procter and a
candle maker named James Gamble married sisters. They decided to go into
business together in Cincinnati, Ohio. They sold both soap and candles door to
door. They were good at it, and their business grew.
But their really big break came as the result of an accident. One
day, one of their employees absentmindedly forgot to turn off his soap mixing
machine when he went to lunch. Their mixer kept beating air into the soap
batch. By the time lunch was over the first floating soap had been produced.
Proctor and Gamble took the name for their new soap from Psalm 45:8.
"All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory
palaces, whereby they have made thee glad." Ivory soap has been floating
in bath tubs ever since.
Shower or bath, it feels good to be clean. The same is true
spiritually. As a Christian, I am grateful to my Lord Jesus Christ that He has
paid the price for my sins and that they have all been washed away by His
blood. I am spiritually clean. It feels so good!
And God has also provided His very own Holy Spirit to keep me
afloat. His Spirit comforts me and teaches me and helps me to know His will for
my life. The Holy Spirit is an energizing life-force in my spiritual quest for
perfection and completion. It is my contact point with God Himself. And I have
the Holy Spirit only because of the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ.
The Holy Spirit keeps me from sinking. Satan uses his power and
temptations to sink my spiritual life and to make me feel dirty. But God's
power is stronger. It reminds me that I have been cleansed by Christ, gives me
my spiritual energy, and helps me rejoice in His ivory palaces.
Ivory soap reminds me that even mistakes can be turned into
benefit. Maybe there's something to say for the old Saturday night bath. Maybe
it can help keep life in the proper spiritual perspective.
--Larry Urbaniak --
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Copied with permission from "The
Berean News" April 1994..
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