Chalkboards used to be all the rage. High technology, too. Those green expanses found in classrooms all across the nation served as our computer screens of the 20th century. We could load all the information we wanted, and with a swipe of our hand, we wiped it clean.
Then came the overhead projector, and we could save our lessons. Write them on acetate sheets, and when the lesson was over, they were gone, dropped into a folder for future reference.
Projectors needed a screen, though.
The whiteboard bridged the two. It wouldn’t accept chalk. Rather, we had to purchase special markers that went on wet and dried to an erasable residue that held its shape until we wiped it off.
The one thing white boards were especially good for was a blank projector screen for that overhead projector, movies, or anything we wanted to shine that direction.
Of course, whiteboards have given way to computer-controlled Smart Boards, television screens, and computer monitors now, but in their heyday, they were cutting edge, and everyone wanted them.
The whiteboard presents two opportunities to illustrate Christ in our lives.
Illustration #1:
The real difference between the whiteboard and a chalkboard is the residue that remains when the words and diagrams are removed. Erase a chalkboard, and the powdery remains of lessons taught stick to our hands and shower our legs and feet. And those who might be allergic? They will cough and sneeze, and the day will become a nightmare of misery.
When we erase a whiteboard, there is no residue. Our hands stay clean, and everyone, allergies or not, breathes well for the rest of the day.
One other thing to consider is that when the whiteboard is erased, everything is completely gone. The surface of the board is like new again, as if it has never been used at all.
That’s what Christ does for us.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
When Christ wipes us clean, we are brand new. We cannot find any residue of life’s cruel lessons anywhere on our person. It’s all gone.
Illustration #2:
Our second illustration concerns the purpose of the whiteboard. It is, by design, meant to be loaded up with knowledge.
The knowledge is not static, though. It doesn’t go on the board just for decoration. Rather, it is an avenue for transferring that knowledge to the unlearned among us.
1 Timothy 2:4 says, “Who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Our salvation is more than one simple act. Coming to Jesus is the first step, yes, but it starts a process that lasts our entire life. We have to ask ourselves, how do we maintain our salvation and grow to become like our Lord?
The answer is simple. We come to the knowledge of the truth. That knowledge is found in our study time with God’s Word and in our teaching time under God’s anointed teachers and ministers.
Unlike the more modern computer monitor, which is filled with knowledge but is blanked at the touch of a button, the whiteboard can hold the words we need to read for as long as we need them there.
When God has lessons for us to learn, his patience is infinite. He will work with us until we have come to his truth, and he will only wipe the board when we are with him in the glorious by and by.
Jesus writes his truth on the whiteboard of the ages, so that we can draw unto him, learning to become like him.
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