A Idea Whose Time Has Arrived,

A much-quoted thought from Victor Hugo is presented for our pondering: “There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world,” he said, “and that is an idea whose time has arrived.” We are so accustomed to think and to speak in terms of money and lands and goods, that we may lose sight of the fact that behind all tangible forces is the greater force of intangibles: the thoughts of men, the forces beyond men, and the ideas and motives and principles that put tangibles to good or evil purposes. Behind any physical contest there is an inevitable contest of wills. Behind tangible weapons, the impact of which we can readily see, there is always the force of ideas, which is not so readily observable but which is more formidable, more persistent, than the effect of physical force. The most effective character who ever lived among men, Jesus the Christ, seldom relied upon the physical forces of this earth⎯and yet He transformed the humblest of men into mighty movers of the world; He modified the thoughts of men, and, therefore, modified the shape of tangible things for all time to come. It is thrilling to be able to reshape the face of mountains, to bridge rivers, to rear structures for comfort and convenience. It is glorious to harvest abundantly, to fill the world’s storehouses; to feed and to clothe, to provide man’s needs and comforts, and even luxuries. The physical forces of earth and the tangibles that we see and touch all about us are a blessing to our lives, or may be so. But behind all this is first the thinking and planning of someone⎯of men or of God or of both⎯the ideas, the ideals, the creative gifts, the intangible forces which move and shape the world and shape the lives of men. There have been many characters of history who have come near to conquering the world in a physical sense, and many who have tried to force wrong ideas upon humankind, and who have created much of disturbance in their attempts to do so. But there have been none who could stop men from moving toward a knowledge of truth, none who could stop the emergence of an idea whose time had arrived. But the time for an idea never arrives, unless it is founded in truth, in justice, and in freedom. This much, and no less, we must ask of all the ideas that present themselves for our acceptance.