Day by Day

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"Peace with God: Basis for Joy"

Come near to God and He will come near to you. James 4:8
   

The Bible speaks of people enjoying themselves--at weddings, welcome-home occasions, parties, outings, trips. Families had a good time when they grouped together to travel up to Jerusalem for the festivals. The psalms of ascent reflect their joy, as David declares, "I rejoiced with those who said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the LORD'" (Psalm 122:1). When in the Holy City, the people built booths or arbors to occupy for a week during the Feast of Tabernacles. We can imagine that the children especially enjoyed this "camping out" experience.

But some events were not enjoyable, like wars and the starvation sieges often preceding them. Under no circumstances are wars like picnics. When the first battle of Manassas was about to be fought at the outset of the Civil War, many people in Washington, D.C., including congressmen, thought it would be an interesting thing to watch. They came out in carriages, bringing basket lunches and wines. The "outing" ended in a rout, for both the Union troops and the spectators.

Wars, including the bloodless ones sometimes waged in the church, are no picnics. This is true especially when sin causes these controversies. Saint James asks, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight" (James 4:1-2). Saint James knows of a much better way to receive what we want and need: Pray to God for it.

By contrast, how blest are congregations when Christ's peace prevails! The psalmist declares, "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1). This truly is Christ's peace, for He earned it for us on the cross. Saint Paul writes, "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). Peace with God is the basis for peace among ourselves.

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"Christ is our Peace"

In Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13
   

During the Civil War, and probably in most land wars, many battles were fought near churches. At Shiloh in southwestern Tennessee, a bloody battle took place at Shiloh church. Another battle swirled around a Dunker church at Antietam, Maryland. A church seminary was involved in the battle of Gettysburg.

Tragic as it is for churches to suffer from warfare, it is far worse when battles are fought in the church itself. In the mother church in Jerusalem, founded on Pentecost Day, Grecian Jews "complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food" (Acts 6:1). But this was a minor skirmish in comparison with the much greater controversy over whether Old Testament ceremonial laws, like circumcision, must be part of New Testament Christianity. The conflict led to an apostolic convention in Jerusalem, where the principle of freedom from the Mosaic Law was once for all established.

The church in Ephesus was shaken by the same controversy. It needed spiritual guidance, and Saint Paul provided it in his epistle. He wrote that Christ Himself "is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the Law with its commandments and regulations" (Ephesians 2:14-15). Because of Christ's obedience to the Law and His work of atonement (at-one-moment), we are fully and freely saved through faith in Him. This goes for both believing Jews and Gentiles, who are now one.

War continues in our world, and church edifices are still being destroyed. Disputes still arise in congregations and in entire church bodies. But the truth of salvation by grace--without the deeds of the Law, without a golden-rule morality, without human merit of any kind--stands firm. Standing on this foundation, Christ's church and its members are at peace.

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"Giving thanks for Daily Bread"

Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated ... He did the same with the fish. John 6:11
   

"In comparison with the Great Depression of the 1930s," said Norman Vincent Peale, "the recent recessions are like Sunday school picnics." Many people went hungry then, joining long lines to soup kitchens. Someone with a light touch said, "We occasionally see signs: 'Keep off the grass.' In the Depression they read, 'Don't eat the grass.'"

The multitudes that came to Jesus in an uninhabited area were told to sit down, for "there was plenty of grass in that place" (John 6:10). But the hungry people didn't have to eat the grass; Jesus had real food in mind for them. He satisfied the hunger of all by miraculously multiplying five small barley loaves and two small fish--a boy's lunch--into food for all.

During the Thanksgiving season we are especially mindful of, and thankful for, the daily bread God provides for us. And by "daily bread" we mean more than bread baked in ovens; we mean also clothing, housing, jobs, medical care, education, good government. God does not, as a rule, provide for us with gifts directly from heaven, like the manna of old. Nor are we fed in such a wonderful manner as Jesus used. Still, it is a miracle in a way that seeds grow into plants and trees yield food to eat. God is at work in nature for our benefit.

In a much larger sense God has provided for us spiritually. By the miracle of undeserved, divine grace He gave us His Son, Jesus Christ, as the Bread of Life. We live not by bread alone but also--and especially--by the Word of God which nourishes our souls and, in fact, our whole being. Jesus Christ is the personal Word. He is God's Son, very God of very God, who for us and for our salvation gave His life. In Him we live, move, and have our being. What grounds for thanks!

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"The Cross Stands for Strength"

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14
   

It is said that in Japanese culture the tree stands for strength.

Trees are mentioned in the Bible in various connections. The thought of strength and durability is suggested in Isaiah's reference to the believers as "oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD" (Isaiah 61:3). Fruit-bearing trees are symbols of spiritually productive Christians. In Psalm 1 a righteous person is compared to a tree that "yields its fruit in season" (Psalm 1:3). The individual cedars of Lebanon and other trees were used for Solomon's temple, symbolizing the individual believers who together constitute the holy Christian church, the communion of saints. In Jesus Christ, as Saint Paul writes to the Ephesians, "the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:21).

Trees give wood for both constructive and destructive purposes. The Romans used wood to make crosses for the execution of their victims. Yes, a tree somewhere in the Holy Land became the cross on which Jesus was sacrificed for the sin of the world. Saint Paul makes this clear: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13).

The tree on Mount Calvary takes us back to the Garden of Eden where the devil used a tree to tempt Adam and Eve into sin. It was altogether fitting and right that the devil be himself overcome by a tree--by the accursed tree of the cross. This tree is now for us the symbol of our salvation in Christ. Now there is again a tree of life in the heavenly paradise. "To him who overcomes," writes Saint John, Christ "will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7).

Yes, the tree of Christ's cross stands for strength in this life and for eternal life in the world to come.

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"Coping with Life's Ups and Downs"

"[No] mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him"--but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10
   

Charles Mann, a defensive football end for the Washington Redskins, was asked how he could reconcile a rough sport with his professed Christianity. He remarked, "If Christ were on the football field, He would not be a wimp but would stand His ground." Then, applying his faith to the problems of the greater game of life, he said, "It is not by my strength or my talents, but it is God who gives me the power and wisdom to deal with life's ups and downs."

Jesus was not a moral or physical weakling. For His cleansing of the temple, He made a "whip out of cords" (John 2:15) and drove the sacrificial cattle and the money changers from the temple precincts. A wimp would not have done this.

It is worth pursuing what the athlete said about the greater contests of life taking place off the athletic field. Many are marked by ups and downs, victories and defeats, gains and losses. On fields more uneven than football gridirons, we are confronted by opponents far deadlier than the opposing players: sin within us, the world of iniquity, the designing devil. To hold our own against them until God gives us the victory, we need more than our own strength and talents. We need what Saint Paul experienced: God's grace sufficient for us, with His power made perfect in our weakness.

What we also need to deal with life's ups and downs is wisdom. Wisdom is more than knowledge or a mental accumulation of facts. It includes the ability to make right judgments on the basis of the facts at hand. Experience helps in this. Discretion, too, is a part of wisdom. These assets, said the football player, come from God. Especially the highest wisdom, faith resting in Christ's redemption, comes from God through His Word. The "Holy Scriptures," writes Saint Paul, "are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15). It is this wisdom that the Holy Spirit teaches and that He, through the Gospel, sustains in us. It is, in summary, the conviction that Christ Jesus gave His own life so that we might have forgiveness and the fullness of life.

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"Sometimes We Have to Judge"

"First take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Luke 6:42
   

Some people stand for what is known as "laissez faire," that is, let people do as they please. In support of this stance they quote the words of Jesus: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned" (Luke 6:37).

In words preceding the above, Jesus urges us to be merciful because our heavenly Father is that way. Further, He warns against self-righteousness, against having 20/20 vision with regard to someone else's faults but being blind to our own. Such people spot a "speck of dust" or a splinter in their brothers' and sisters' eyes when having a "plank" in their own. On the basis of this context, some say we ought never judge and condemn anyone, not even when moral wrongs are involved.

This cannot be what Jesus meant, for elsewhere He stated, "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault" (Matthew 18:15). Whenever Christians do this, they are not expressing arbitrary, personal judgments but are applying the prior judgments of God. The latter are the standard by which we live.

What kind of judging or condemning is Jesus forbidding? It is a judging that is loveless, without mercy, and is prompted by self-righteousness. Our Lord does not want us to presume to lay down moral principles, or a set of do's and don'ts, of our own making that exceed or fall short of what the Word of God says. The attempt to add to the Word of God was illustrated by the Pharisees, who added more than 600 laws of their own to the moral law of God. This is legalism.

Yes, there may come times when it is our Christian calling to point out to those near and dear to us that what they are saying and doing is wrong in the light of the Word of God. The intent is to be constructive and positive--as Jesus said--to "win" or "gain" the brother or sister, to be spiritually helpful to one for whom Christ died.

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"The Overriding will of God"

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good." Genesis 50:20
   

"God can use what He did not choose," declared a noted television evangelist. This is more than a play on words. It coincides with what the Bible teaches.

The fact that God can change the evil designs of people into good is heavily underscored in the life and work of Joseph as prime minister of Egypt. He told his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:20). Earlier he had told them, "God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance" (Genesis 45:7). It was necessary, according to God's plan of salvation, to keep alive a remnant of Jacob's descendants, notably the tribe of Judah, for from the tribe of Judah the Messiah was to be born.

God did not choose--He did not so order or ordain--that a man named Saul the Pharisee should in his youth be educated in the wrong conceptions of the law of Moses and become self-righteous. But after Saul's conversion, God used the sharpened mind, the now properly directed zeal, and the power of speech of Saint Paul to further the kingdom of Christ.

It was not God's choice that Christ's enemies should persecute the young church in Jerusalem and stone Stephen to death. But God used their evil plotting, directing it to a good outcome. The persecution had the good effect that it scattered the Christians to surrounding regions. Wherever those Christians went, they proclaimed and lived the saving Gospel of Christ.

In his sermon to the religious leaders in Jerusalem Saint Peter cited the greatest instances of God turning to the eternal good of mankind the evil Christ's enemies chose to do: "You handed Him over to be killed, and you disowned Him before Pilate ... You killed the Author of Life, but God raised Him from the dead" (Acts 3:13, 14).

"Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save," writes the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 59:1). This is still true today. What God did not choose He can use to bring about good outcomes in our time, in our world, in our lives.

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"Four Kinds of Love"

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. John 1:4
   

"Life" is a word occurring frequently in daily conversation. Sometimes it is not clear in what sense the word is used. It helps if we understand its usages. From a biblical perspective, we can distinguish four meanings of life.

First, as beings created by God, we have physical life. In Genesis we read, "The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7). Because we have bodily life, we breathe, eat, drink, work, and rest.

Second, as human beings, we have mental-emotional life. This sets us aside from animals. We can think, speak, and figure things out rationally. We can love. Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). In our time we notice a tendency to downsize the importance of the mind as having the power of reasoning and of making responsible decisions. Human behavior, it is claimed, is determined by one's physical genes.

Third, on the basis of Bible teaching we identify spiritual life, or faith active in love and in service to Christ. Unbelievers do not have it. Saint John declares that Christ, the Son of God become man, is the source of this life: "In Him was life, and that life was the light of men" (John 1:4). It still is, for the Lord Jesus imparts and supports spiritual life through His Word and Spirit.

Fourth, Holy Scripture teaches that believers have the promise of eternal life. It is the extension of our present spiritual life. We have the foretaste of it in this present life in Christ, but will realize the fullness of it in heaven.

The apostle John writes concerning Christ Jesus, "From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another" (John 1:16). These blessings certainly include life in its fourfold dimension. We have life in its fullness because Jesus gave His life for us.

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"So Close, Yet So Far"

He [Jesus] said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." Mark 12:34
   

In her autobiographical book, "Me," the actress Katherine Hepburn, although admitting her Christian roots, makes no profession of faith. In fact, she denies having faith. Yet she has moments of truth. She states, for example, "When you sin, you pay." (Saint Paul explains: "The wages of sin is death" [Romans 6:23].) Why did her marriage fail? She confesses to selfishness: "It was Me, Me, Me."

Some non-Christians at times come close to confessing Christian truth. In a dialog with Jesus, a scribe declared that loving God and the neighbor "is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices" (Mark 12:33). He was obviously not a follower of Jesus, yet Jesus said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God" (Mark 12:34). Again, after Saint Paul had stated his case to King Agrippa and appealed to him to believe, Agrippa replied, "Do you think ...you can persuade me to be a Christian?" (Acts 26:28).

We read in the Old Testament about Balaam, a pagan diviner, who refused to prophesy against the Israelites as they moved through the land of Moab toward the Promised Land. He said he would not do so even if he received King Balak's "palace filled with silver and gold" (Numbers 22:18). Instead he blessed the Israelites, uttering a messianic prophecy that "A Star will come out of Jacob" (Numbers 24:17). How far was he from the kingdom of God?

A person can be close to aspects of God's truth and yet be far away from having faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior. Also in matters of faith it is true: "A miss is as good as a mile." "Close," it is said in sport circles, "counts only in horseshoes." Some can be said to be close to Christianity because they know great deal about the Bible or because they are married to a Christian and sometimes attend church. Yet, lacking faith, they are far from God's kingdom. The Bible is plain: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16). God promises salvation to all who put their trust in Christ crucified and Christ risen from the dead.

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"The Grave was Robbed"

O death, where is your victory? 1 Corinthians 15:55
   

We cannot be sure where Christopher Columbus lies buried. Some say it is in the Dominican Republic, where his son is buried. Others say it is in the cathedral of Seville, Spain. Similarly, Daniel Boone has a gravesite in Frankfort, Kentucky, and another at Defiance, Missouri.

With Moses, the situation is different. The last chapter of Deuteronomy states that "to this day no one knows where his grave is" (Deuteronomy 34:6). While the apocryphal book, The Assumption of Moses, says that the archangel Michael carried Moses' body to heaven, the book of Jude (v. 9) tells us only that Michael disputed with Satan over Moses' body. Also the prophet Elijah has no grave, for also he was taken to heaven bodily.

Another who has no grave is Jesus. After His death on the cross His body was laid into Joseph's tomb. But on the third day He rose from the grave. The power of our Lord's resurrection was foretold by the prophet Hosea: "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?" (Hosea 13:14). Saint Paul repeated the substance of these words in his most comforting chapter in 1 Corinthians 15.

When we say the grave was robbed, we are not referring to the work of thieves who rob graves. We mean that death and the grave were stripped of their power over us when Christ, in proof of His conquest of sin and death, rose triumphantly from His tomb. Thanks to His victory, graves cannot hold back their occupants but must give them up when our Savior returns in glory on the Last Day.

The promise of the resurrection applies to all who died as believers in Christ, also to those whose graves have long disappeared and to those who never had a grave, like those who drowned in oceans. "The sea gave up the dead," writes Saint John (Revelation 20:13). In the end it makes very little difference where our graves are or whether they can be identified. The Lord Jesus knows where we are, and He will find us on that Great Day.

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"From Rags to Robes"

Though He [Christ Jesus] was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor. 2 Corinthians 8:9
   

All people come into this world empty handed, and that is also the way they will leave. Job writes, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart" (Job 1:21). Saint Paul echoes the same truth: "We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it" (1 Timothy 6:7). The rich man who had himself buried in his solid gold Cadillac, of course, left it behind.

How about the Son of God? Could He perhaps have come into this world with the symbols of incalculable wealth: gorgeous robes, diamond rings on His fingers, a solid gold crown on His head? Not if it was His purpose to take the place of all members of fallen mankind. But since He came as every sinner's substitute, He was born in deepest poverty. He came with nothing. His mother wrapped Him in scraps of cloth, in a "blanket" as one Bible version has it. In fact, in the Latin translation of Christ's nativity Mary has wrapped Him with "pannis," that is, in tatters, remnants, rags.

When Jesus departed in death, He again had nothing, for the Roman soldiers appropriated His clothes.

How does Jesus' poverty benefit us? Saint Paul tells the Corinthians, "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor" (2 Corinthians 8:9). Once for all our Lord enriched us with His poverty when, as our substitute, He exchanged the rags of our sinfulness with the robes of His perfect righteousness. Now we can stand faultless before God's throne. That robe, covering all our sins, is ours by faith in Jesus.

Without this robe, we are lost. But clothed in it, we are the best dressed people and welcome guests at the heavenly feast.

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"Spiritual Watchfulness"

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Acts 20:28
   

Several years ago a newspaper reported that a truck driver working for the highway system stopped to remove a warning sign that was deemed no longer needed. While he was doing this, he was struck by another truck and killed.

Caution in our spiritual lives is always in place. For one thing, we should not be too hasty to remove danger signs along the highway of the Christian faith. The evils may still prevail. In fact, some danger markers should never be removed. The writer of Proverbs states, "Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers " (Proverbs 22:28). What pertained to local geography then still applies to Christianity today. Warnings against sin, the temptations of the world, and the wiles of the devil are still needed.

While God's caretakers in the church look after the welfare of the people committed to their care, they are reminded by Holy Scripture also to be concerned about their own spiritual safety. This is stressed by the apostle Paul. In his meeting with the elders of Ephesus he said, "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). And to Timothy he wrote, "Watch your life and doctrine closely" (1 Timothy 4:16).

In the home, fathers and mothers watch over their children, teaching them the meaning of God's love in Christ Jesus. They also need to look after their own safety as they travel the traffic-stricken highways of life. It would be a real tragedy if they were struck by the vehicles of sin and Satan and they lost their faith.

Years ago it was asked in a popular song, "Who takes care of the caretaker's daughter while the caretaker is out taking care?" Similarly, who takes care of the church's caretakers while they are taking care of their charges? The Lord does.

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"Houses of Decision"

As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15
   

In Washington Crossing State Park, located in Buck County, Pennsylvania, stands a structure called "House of Decision." It got this name because in it George Washington and his staff decided to cross the Delaware River to attack the opposing forces at Trenton, New Jersey. They did so on Christmas night, 1776, and were successful.

Every home is in a sense a "house of decision." Important things have to be decided in the family circle about the daily work routines, about recreation, what to read, what to watch on TV, where the older children will go to college, and how to pay for it.

One matter exceeds all the family issues, namely, what is the family's relation to Jesus Christ? Joshua, the leader of the Israelites settled in the Promised Land, made a deep impression on the people when he announced at a mass meeting in Schechem: "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15). In this house a right decision had been made.

In the New Testament we find many references to households where, through the Gospel, the Holy Spirit had led family members to declare Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Saint Peter preached in the house of the centurion Cornelius. The Holy Spirit activated faith in those present and the whole household was baptized. The same events took place in the home of Lydia in Philippi and in that of the jailor in the same city. Another "house of decision" where the Holy Spirit probably did His work was the home of Philemon, to whom Saint Paul wrote a letter.

If yours is a house where decisions comparable to crossing the Delaware have to be made, by all means make them. Say with Joshua that you and your house will serve the Lord Jesus. Trusting in the merit of Jesus Christ, you and your family will have peace with God and peace in the home.

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"God's Sunshine"

I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness. Colossians 1:25
   

Government agencies and policy-making groups are asked to observe "sunshine laws" that are intended to make available their actions and resolutions to those who have the right to know.

God, too, is committed to "sunshine" principles. He has revealed to the world His plan of salvation. By themselves sinners could not know what God had in mind to bring the fallen human race back into fellowship with Him. God formed His saving counsel in eternity, before there ever was a sinful human race. With the coming of Christ and the proclamation of His Gospel, God's "sunshine" principle went into effect. Saint Paul speaks of God's revealed grace in Christ as "the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints" (Colossians 1:26).

God's saving grace was proclaimed in olden times by the prophets. This revelation, at first dim, was like light breaking through dark clouds. But at the fullness of time God spoke to us plainly through His Son. Jesus Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, is this divine Son. He is the Light of the world, the Sun of righteousness with healing in its radiant light. Through Jesus Christ God emits His sunshine. He reveals to us His wondrous grace, the forgiveness of all our sins, and the perfect peace we have with Him in time and in eternity. We have this because Jesus Christ became the Second Adam to atone for all the sins of the first Adam and all his descendents.

When our Lord gave instruction to His followers to proclaim the good news of salvation to all the world, He put God's "sunshine" principle into effect. He wants the whole human race to know what Christianity teaches. He wants them to shed light on what Advent, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost are all about. Away with secrecy, even with hesitance! Let the sun of God's love in Christ shine so that a world sitting in darkness may know that the Savior is born!

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"Now is the Time"

Now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2
   

A man who writes a column in the St. Louis daily newspaper stated, after he had been baptized as an adult: "I wish I had received spiritual training when young. I believe it would have given me a better moral and ethical base from which to govern my life; I would have avoided many of the pitfalls of ego and arrogance."

Regrets about being a latecomer are to be read between the lines written by Saint Paul. He tells the Galatians, "The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Great was the love the apostle had for his Savior, declaring it on many occasions and expressing great happiness in living his life in and for Christ. But think what he missed when, before his conversion, as Saul the Pharisee, he had not served Christ, instead "breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples" (Acts 9:1). Surely it had to be the great regret in Saint Paul's life that he had formerly "persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it" (Galatians 1:13) when he could have devoted his time and effort to the upbuilding of the church.

Regrets do the individual no good when voiced after the time of grace has passed. The rich man of Jesus' parable was full of regrets when, at death, his soul landed in hell. It was then too late to change anything (see Luke 16:19-31).

We take to heart the words of one who knew what he was talking about. Saint Paul writes: "Now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). The time for repentance is now. The time to believe in Jesus is today. What a joy it is to live for Him and to serve Him! Those who love the Lord and who, out of love to Him serve others will never have regrets--only hearts full of gratitude for the work of the Holy Spirit in them.