At Advertising Yourself, I am pleased to establish a commitment to reflect each Sunday on the subject of advertising and how it relates to the life of Jesus Christ. While the audience for these posts may need some time to develop, I invite anyone to read these Sunday articles without needing to feel like an uninvited guest. Everyone is welcome here, and I thank you for visiting.

Being my first article in this special Sunday series, I have chosen to reflect on something that comes first to mind when I think of Jesus Christ and advertising: the Book of Mark. In Mark, Jesus tells people repeatedly not to advertise his miracles after he performs them. He says things like ""Say nothing to anyone," after healing a man with leprosy, or issuing strict orders after healing a dying girl in her house "no one was to know what had taken place in that room."

Naturally, the question is "Why didn't Jesus want people to know about the most miraclous things that He had accomplished?"

And how does that apply to us, and our own use of advertising?

Apparently, Jesus believed that the publicity that would be received if these secrets were shared would be worse than the character-building experience of keeping the secrets.

Once people advertised Jesus (against His advice), it became more difficult for people to be helped by Jesus, because He suddenly became surrounded on all sides with desperate requests for his healing power. He even had to sail away on a boat for privacy, to prevent people from crushing Him by crowding around Him: " He had healed many people, and now everyone who had something wrong was pushing and shoving to get near and touch him." So, a lot of innocent people were not able to receive the attention they needed from Him.

In our own work, do we sometimes get overactive in seeking to advertise any little contribuition that we can make to the public? Sure, it may be good; it may be worthy of attention. But will it be the best thing we can offer in the long run?

Can we most likely provide something better if we just wait a little while, have a little patience, and formulate our idea?

Most importantly, waiting to do our best will develop better character traits in us.

Sometimes, the best thing we can share with others is the courage to keep a secret.