Day by Day

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"The Great Awakening"

The Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 1 Thessalonians 4:16
   

An English hunting song says that the baying hounds and the horn of the morning hunter, John Peel, bring the foxes from their hiding places, rouse people from their beds, and are loud enough to “awaken the dead.”

A trumpet to awaken the dead – is there such a thing? Yes says Saint Paul. He writes, concerning the order of Christ’s action on the Last Day: "The Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first." Again, when referring to the glorified resurrection bodies, he states “The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

We can’t imagine what that will be like – what kind of trumpet sound will be heard around the world, how those who have died so long ago and with their bodies now turned to dust can hear that call. And what is the nature of the changed, glorified, and imperishable bodies? But we can catch a glimpse of that future scene – how a tree or shrub, barren in the winter, blooms in spring; how a caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly; how an eagle or other bird molts and then renews itself; how a patient, near death’s door, overcomes his ailments and again achieves glowing health. If such changes occur in our natural world, should it be impossible for God to do the greater miracle of awakening the dead to a new life?

In a sense we are already raised from the dead – from being spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Jesus Christ, having died for our sins and conquered death, rose again from the dead. Believing in Him and baptized into His name, we live in Him and have even now a foretaste of eternal life to come.

Yes, Christ’s trumpet call will be heard! Are we ready for it?

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"Satan’s Charges are Futile"

On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before Him. Job 2:1
   

The book of Job tells us: When the angels presented themselves before God for worship, Satan was present. The New Testament gospels report that Jesus attended the synagogue in Capernaum. Present there was a man possessed by a demon, who said through his victim: “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us?” (Mark 1:24).

What possible reasons could Satan have for going to church, a place so many people find unattractive? A partial answer may be found in a fresco painting in Roskilde Cathedral, Copenhagen. It shows a grotesque figure of the devil, with an inscription that says he “writes down the names of those who are late or loiter about with idle talk.” Why would the devil want to do that? He considers the church a good place to get a line on people, a good place to find prospects for greater temptations.

Take the case of Judas Iscariot. Satan must have noted Judas’ fondness for the collection money in the treasury of that little congregation. That gave Satan a hint of how vulnerable Judas was for the betrayal of his Master for 30 pieces of silver.

The devil keeps his own records of people, even of church people. The story is told of a time when Satan confronted Martin Luther with a long list of his sins. Asked if this was the total list, the devil replied: “Oh, no, I have other even longer lists.” Luther asked that he bring them all, and when this was done, he wrote these words across them: “Paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.”

You and I can do the same thing when the evil accuser confronts us with his notes of our spiritual delinquencies. Then his church-going to spy on us will do him no good.

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"God’s Message in a ‘Double Envelope’"

"These are the Scriptures that testify about Me." John 5:39
   

Engraved wedding invitations usually come in two envelopes: an inner one and an outer one. The first contains the message – the invitation – and the second is the medium or wrapper that brings the whole thing to you through the mail. May we say that God brings His message of salvation to us in a double envelope?

A European theologian has written: “Since Jesus is the revealed Word of God, He is the source of our knowledge of God.” In another place, this: “Theology is to be drawn from the Bible.”

Both statements are true, but they must be related properly to each other. Jesus is truly the personal Word through whom God speaks to us. The letter to the Hebrews, reflecting what Saint John wrote in the prologue of his Gospel (“the Word became flesh” (John 1:14), states in its own prologue: “In these last days He [God] has spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:2).

This does not mean that we may dispose of Holy Scripture as the source of divine revelation. Some theologians, claiming the Bible to be a human document with many errors, say in a cavalier fashion, “Don’t worry about it. We don’t have to rely on it, for God has revealed His saving love for us in Jesus, the personal Word.”

However, apart from the written Word we wouldn’t know anything about Jesus and what God tells us through Him. In Holy Scripture, which testifies of Jesus, God reveals fully and completely why He sent His Son into the world: to die for the sins of the human race and then to rise again. He invites us to believe in Him for our salvation.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is in the nature of a wedding invitation, God bidding us, as Jesus declares in a parable: “Come to the wedding banquet” (Matthew 22:4). This invitation comes to us, we might say, in a double envelope: through Jesus, the personal Word, and through the written Word. The latter, like the larger, outer envelope, brings us the “Jesus message.” The Bible is the “Jesus Book,” on whose message concerning Jesus the Savior we can fully rely, for it is God’s own revealed Word, altogether truthful.

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"If Trees Could Talk"

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. 1 Peter 2:21
   

In nature we see God’s handiwork, including the trees. The poet Joyce Kilmer, author of “Trees,” would call them God’s lovely poems. The weeping willow is one of these trees. It is not universally admired because of its habit to “weep” its sticky sap on your car, especially the windshield, if you park underneath it. Then you have trouble seeing, tears always blur vision. But willows have both utility and beauty. They yield their flexible twigs for basket weaving; their gracefully drooping branches rank it with ornamental trees.

The weeping willow goes under the scientific name of “salix babylonica,” perhaps because of its mention in the Psalm,” “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the [willows] we hung our harps” (Psalm 137:1-2).

What would there be for a willow to weep about if it had feelings and the facility to shed real tears? It might be sorrowful because some trees, like the fig tree in Christ’s parable, do not bear fruit in their season. Or it could weep because forests are ravaged because of people’s carelessness with campfires or their eagerness to obtain lumber. There would also be reason to shed tears of joy because, as the Holy Communion liturgy so strikingly puts it, Satan, who by a tree over came our first parents in Eden, was himself overcome by a tree – the tree of the cross on which Jesus died to atone for sin. Saint Peter writes: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24).

Saint Paul tells us that “the whole creation has been groaning” (Romans 8:22), not only because human sin lays a heavy load on it, but also because it awaits its liberation (Romans 8:21), along with that of God’s people, when Christ will come again and bring us to final glory. The weeping willow, a part of creation, joins in this expectation.

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"Hope for All Creation"

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2:15
   

A magazine article states why measures have to be taken in behalf of the bighorn sheep in the mountains of British Columbia: “They have to be protected from disruption and disease brought on by the encroachments of man.” Human enterprises, especially of thoughtless greed, tend to pollute land, water, and air, thus endangering many species of animals and plants.

The plaintive voices heard in nature, if combined into a chorus, would add a very distressing stanza to Gustav Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” (“The Song of the Earth”). Saint Paul has given us the substance of it: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth” (Romans 8:22). It groans because man’s sin has placed it under bondage and added many burdens.

The beginning of nature’s distress goes back to man’s fall into sin. To Adam God said: “Cursed is the ground because of you; … It will produce thorns and thistles for you” (Genesis 3:17-18). The once beautiful Garden of Eden is gone. Instead we have an earth whose spontaneous fruitfulness is greatly reduced. Sinful man aggravates the curse resting on it. To the existing Sahara Desert man adds new deserts by his mismanagement of soil and water. Devastating floods result from this. Flora and fauna suffer because of it, making conservation efforts necessary.

The great conservationist is God Himself – the Creator who wants to enlist our help for the preservation and restoration of what He made. He starts with the sinner, seeking to regain him for his role as the crown of creation, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come,” we sing in a well-known song. God’s own Son came in the person of Jesus Christ to break the power of sin and to bring the blessings of redemption, as the refrain has it, “far as the curse is found.” Through His death and rising again He effected freedom for sinners and enabled them to become the children of God. Those who believe in the Son as the total Liberator are freed for every God-pleasing service, including the care of nature’s environment. Now hope begins, even for God’s creation.

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"Family Members as Jewels"

The gifts you sent … are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. Philippians 4:18
   

Emperor Shah Jahan of Agra, India, must have loved his wife very much. When the empress died, he built her a magnificent mausoleum, the Taj Mahal. It is made of marble, trimmed with precious stones: jade, agate, jasper, onyx, and diamonds. Completed in 1645, it is one of the most elegant structures ever built.

Not every man can pay such an architectural tribute to his wife. What is more, it is not necessary. Love can express itself in less pretentious ways. True love can turn a humble cottage into a sparkling castle. A popular song in the 1920s was “My Blue Heaven.” It described a small home with a fireplace, a cozy room, “a little nest that’s nestled where the roses bloom.” There was also the smiling face of Molly, the wife, and the happy baby when the husband and father came home from a day’s work.

Faithful spouses don’t need jeweled tombs, for they themselves are jewels. The writer of the book of Proverbs declares: “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies” (Proverbs 31:10). The same can be said of a loving, loyal husband. And children are precious to the parents and vice versa. According to a story in a school reader, a Roman mother refused to be embarrassed for her lack of rings and bracelets. When asked, “Where are your jewels?” she called in her children and said, “These are my jewels.”

Love is the prime ingredient of a happy home and family. Happiness results when spouses love each other as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. That was love expressed not in mere words but in a deed – in the deed of sacrificing His life for the salvation of all.

Human beings are not perfect. Consequently misunderstandings will arise. Then it is time to ask for forgiveness, as Saint Paul writes: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

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"A Convert in Prison"

He [the Jailer] then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:30
   

With so much unrest in our regular life as citizens – minority groups wanting more freedom, more opportunities, more rights – it is not surprising that also those in prisons and penitentiaries should express their protests or demands in outbreaks of violence. A prison riot, usually accompanied by fire, wanton destruction, and death, is a terrifying experience.

In Philippi, Paul and Silas were in prison because an uproar ensued when Paul freed a slave girl from a spirit of divination and thus deprived her owners of income. When at midnight a sudden earthquake shook the prison to its very foundations, opened the doors, and unfastened every prisoner’s fetters, all the elements were present for a prison panic. With the prisoners free, a riot might easily have followed, with the inmates turning on the jailer and the jail guards.

But such an outbreak – and breakout – never took place. The reason was that two prisoners were exerting an unbelievably great Christian influence on their fellows. At midnight Paul and Silas “were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25). After the earthquake this was not forgotten. The other prisoners were willing to take their cue from Paul, this time not only hearing him but also heeding him. They made no attempt to escape.

Seeing the effects of the earthquake – and believing that all the prisoners had fled, as they would normally do – the jailer was about to commit suicide. But Paul called out loudly from the darkness to restrain him: “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” (Acts 16:28).

In the darkness of that prison Paul and Silas were letting their light shine as witnesses of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. Their influence extended also to the jailer, for when he asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” the Christian missionaries replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household” (Acts 16:31).

Everywhere in our world people are sitting in the darkness of sin and in prisons of their own making: selfishness, fear, anxiety, doubt, unbelief. What is needed is the message of Christ’s salvation which sets them free. The Gospel does “proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,” as Isaiah 61:1 declares.

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"Reliving Our Yesterdays Today"

I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all Your works. Psalm 143:5
   

Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher and lay theologian, wrote: “It is not worthwhile remembering the past if it cannot become the present.”

On Memorial Day, once known as Decoration Day, we remember the deceased members of our military forces, especially those who gave their lives for their country. The observance becomes meaningful as we, the living, follow their example, serving in the present as they did in the past. When we remember the loyalty and devotion of those who have preceded us, we honor them and keep their memory alive for good purposes by emulating them as we carry out our civil and military duties and complete the tasks that remain.

The time of sacrifice for our country – for its government and people – is not past. There is much for us to do. We have battlefields of one kind or another in our midst, if not of a military nature then certainly of a civil nature. Our enemy, if not foreign, is domestic and lurks within. Vices vie with virtues. Laws are flouted, dishonesty is practiced, people are robbed and killed on the streets, drugs are misused and lead to crime. It is time for all citizens today to rise to the heights of patriotism so that the faithful service rendered in the past will be repeated in the present.

Memorial Day also prompts us as Christians to remember our departed parents, teachers, pastors, and missionaries. These veterans of the cross were the servants of Jesus Christ, whose salvation they embraced and proclaimed. Truly, “the memory of the righteous will be a blessing” (Proverbs 10:7). Holy Scripture bids us, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7). The writer adds the reason for such constancy: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:. When we honor our Lord, as did those who preceded us, we cause the past to become the present.

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"Better When Used"

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:4
   

Some experts claim that musical instruments, like grand pianos, stay in better condition when played than when stored unused in a museum. The wood stays more sensitive to sounds when the piano is played.

As for human talents, it is generally held that we either use them or lose them. The great Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski was quoted as saying, “When I don’t practice for one day, I notice it; when not in two days, my friends notice it; when not for three days, everyone does.”

God has given each of us personal endowments – if not musical talents, then perhaps mechanical; if not for painting pictures or writing poetry, then perhaps for speaking cordially to visitors at church services.

On top of natural talents God has given us spiritual gifts. Some gifts of the Holy Spirit once given to early Christians seem to be discontinued now in the Christian community: speaking in tongues, miraculous healing, prophesying. But other spiritual gifts are distributed to each of us as God wills: comforting, counseling, exhorting, teaching, expressing faith through friendships, and the like.

So, whether we speak of natural talents or of spiritual gifts, a good principle to follow is this: Use them to the glory of God and for the well-being of others and ourselves. By using them, we keep them; but “spending” them, we enhance them.

Christians have every motivation for using their gifts. In that way they show their appreciation for what the Triune God has done for them. The Father “thought” (planned) our salvation back in all eternity; the Son, Jesus Christ, “wrought” it on the cross; and the Holy Spirit “brought” it into our hearts through the Gospel. We say our thank-You to God when we serve Him with our gifts.

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"To Vow or Not to Vow"

Praise awaits You, O God, in Zion; to You our vows will be fulfilled. Psalm 65:1
   

The ancients knew that one should not make foolish vows or rash promises. They told about a king of Crete who had fought in the Trojan War and who, on his return voyage, was caught in a severe sea storm. He vowed to Poseidon, the sea god, that he would sacrifice to him the first living being he would meet on landing, should his life be preserved. The first person he met was his own son. He kept his false vow and sacrificed him.

People make wrong vows today when they try to bargain with God: “Lord, let me win this money, and I’ll give You half of it,” or “Lord, make me well, and I’ll enter a holy order and devote the rest of my life to You,” or “Lord, help me make this sale, and I’ll never miss a Sunday in church from now on.”

What is wrong about this is that we cannot bargain with God; we cannot earn His favor, which comes only as a free, undeserved gift. It is unwise to vow or promise anything that may exceed our ability. Further, the temptation arises to change one’s mind and not do what has been pledged. Jesus tells us we need not vow or swear in the everyday things of life. He says: “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’” (Matthew 5:37).

Vows are in place in the church: baptismal vows, confirmation vows, marriage vows, ordination vows. In public life we administer the oath of office to an elected official. “So help me God” is part of the formula. This is proper, for our Lord says, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

This saying applies especially to our salvation. No one can save himself or earn God’s favor and a place in heaven by good works. The Bible is very clear on this: “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (Ephesians 2: – through faith in Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior from sin and the fear of death by His own death and resurrection.

Foolish vows? No. God-pleasing vows based on His help? Yes.

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"In the End, It’s the Same"

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count. Revelation 7:9
   

Sometimes two processes may differ greatly but have the same effect. In past years France had a penal colony on Devil’s Island off French Guiana in North Africa. The prisoners’ treatment, often leading to death, was called the “dry guillotine.”

After Christ’s ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the evangelistic activity of the twelve apostles began. The treatment accorded them by their enemies varied. The first to become a martyr was James, the brother of John. Around 44 A.D. King Herod had him “put to death with the sword” (Acts 12:2). John, however, as far as we know, died a natural death in high old age circa 98 A.D., nearly a century old. This did not mean, however, that John had a relatively easy life. He likewise suffered for his faithful witness to Jesus. In the year 95 the Roman emperor Domitian banished him to the lonesome, barren, and rocky island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. There he was divinely inspired to write the book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse.

Who of the two brothers shines with greater glory in heaven? Is it James, who felt the sharp edge of a hand-held “guillotine,” or is it John, who, among other sufferings, languished on the Aegean version of a devils island? It is not for us to say what measure of glory Christ will bestow on any of His followers. Suffice it to say that both James and John, in the prophet Daniel’s words, “shine like the brightness of the heavens ... like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).

Short life, long life – a long service career or a deathbed conversion (like that of the penitent thief on the cross), our salvation is altogether by God’s grace. In all eternity each one of us will glorify Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was sacrificed for us and rose again in glory.

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"How God Settles a Strike"

About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. Acts 19:23
   

Nowadays most labor union strikes are conducted peacefully. Those out on a strike realize that gains are made at the conference table, not by engaging in riotous behavior.

Quite different was the strike in Ephesus. After Saint Paul had evangelized the city and had induced many to give up the worship of idols, the business of making idolatrous objects dropped off sharply. This fact prompted Demetrius, a silversmith, to call a meeting of craftsmen who made silver shrines in honor of Artemis. The “sympathy” protest soon degenerated into a first-class riot. The town clerk called the attention of the unruly crowd to peaceful ways in which their differences could be settled.

Without realizing it, many people go out on strike against God. They have a grudge against their Maker. Some refuse to work for Him any longer because they think He has been unfair to them in the way He distributes money and goods to them. So they walk the streets, as it were, with sandwich boards accusing God of being an unfair employer.

Others walk out on God because life out there in the world seems so much more attractive. So they say, “God give us everything we have coming to us, all our back pay, and take our names off the books. We are not going to work for You anymore. We are going to enjoy ourselves.”

The reason why still others go out on a strike against God may be the bitter experience of grief at the loss of property or of a person dear to them. Then resentment sets in. They say, “Why should we continue to serve God if that is the way He treats us? He has taken away our possessions, our livelihood, and all our fringe benefits.”

God invites all striking sinners to gather around the conference table. He says, “Come now, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). He says there is no need to be at odds. His love extends to all. He plays no favorites when He extends equal forgiveness to all. “There is no difference, for all have sinned … [they] are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:22-24).

In Christ Jesus God and sinners get together. The strike is settled.

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"Anarchy is not Freedom"

I urge … requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority. 1 Timothy 2:1-2
   

In the 1920s world attention was focused on the conviction and execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for the payroll theft and murder of a guard in Braintree, Massachusetts. Because they were anarchists, some thought they were being victimized because of politics. However, recent laboratory tests give evidence that the men had indeed committed these crimes.

Anarchism is a dangerous philosophy. It holds that all forms of government unjustly infringe the rights and freedoms of the individual. It represents the ultimate in individualism. It turns liberty into license. At its worst it leads to acts of terrorism. Personal liberty is one thing and must be defended against tyranny. License is something else. It is like a river leaving its banks and becoming a rampaging flood.

Government at local, state, and federal levels enables citizens, in the words of Saint Paul, to “live peaceful and quiet lives.” For this reason he urges “that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority.” The government is there to protect the people, not only against foreign enemies but also against homegrown criminals. And private citizens are a force for good when, on the basis of righteous laws, they assist the governing authorities to maintain peace and decency in the land.

Jesus said: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” in other words, give to the government what it has the right to ask: loyalty, obedience, payment of taxes. Then Jesus added: “and [give] to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). God asks of us a higher love – a love that exceeds the love we owe our fellow human beings. This love is our response to His great love that granted us a Savior from sin in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. This love, once for all, shuts the door to anarchism and opens the door to a God-pleasing life here and now, and in the world to come.

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"About Paying Debts"

He [God] forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us … nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14
   

“The wicked borrow and do not repay” (Psalm 37:21), says the Bible. The reference is not to unfortunate ones who want to but are unable to repay. It rather means those who borrow money or anything else without any sense of moral obligation. So they run off without paying their bills, pay with checks that bounce, or use credit cards in an irresponsible way. People are being robbed as though held up with a gun.

Two prominent Americans set us examples to the contrary. When Mark Twain lost every penny and was saddled with a debt when a printing firm he partly owned went bankrupt, he, at age 60, began to travel, lecture, and write vigorously until the debt was paid. The second man who went heavily into debt when an investment firm went broke was Ulysses S. Grant. Although ailing, he rented a cottage in New York State to write his memoirs. He completed his work three days before dying of cancer on July 23, 1885. He, too, paid his debt.

The Bible speaks of debt-paying people – like Zacchaeus, who repaid everyone fourfold. The Bible cites examples of persons who considered themselves indebted because of solemn promises made. The psalmist states that he will go to God’s house to fulfill his vow. The woman, Hannah, paid her debt when she took her son, young Samuel, and returned him to God’s service in the temple, for she considered him a loan from God.

We need motivation and power for leading honest, Christian lives, and this comes from faith – from our appreciation that God “loaned” His Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us. Although himself sinless and without debts of His own, He paid our debts. He atoned for our sins. In love to Him we pay our earthly debts, thankful that our spiritual debts before God are paid in full.

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"‘Chasing’ the Good Life"

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Romans 7:15
   

Sometimes children, because of language problems, recite their own versions of Bible passages. In a confirmation instruction class a boy said, “There is one God and one equator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” – his version of 1 Timothy 2:5. (He substituted “equator” for “Mediator.”) A little girl quoted Romans 8:31 as follows: “If God isn’t for us, we are up against it.” A third gave Martin Luther’s explanation of the sixth Commandment: “lead a chaste and decent life” as “chase a decent life.” In all three instances, truth was told, although with garbled texts.

As for the third instance, it cannot be stressed enough that real effort has to be put forth to lead a pure sexual life inside and outside of marriage. It has to be pursued and “chased.” The psalmist urges, “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14).

Even so dedicated a Christian as Saint Paul had all he could do to “chase a decent life,” saying: “What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). This came about because an evil force, aided and abetted by the Law, was at work in him. It opposed the “new self” engendered in him by the new birth in Christ. In another passage (Philippians 3:12) he confesses, “Not that I have already obtained all this [the total renewal in the likeness of Christ], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

So you can see that the children were correct: If God is not for you, helping you through His Word and Spirit, you are up against it. And also the boy was right: There is an “equator” between God and sinners, one who equates and mediates for you before God – Jesus Christ. His redeeming merit saves you when you fail to “chase a decent life.” The children told the truth despite improperly rendered texts. God speaks to us also through children.