"...by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified."

Yesterday's visit to the nursing home was again coupled with great joy and sadness.

Dorothy, whom I mentioned earlier, has made little progress with her health. When I went to visit her yesterday I found her lying in bed, eyes half-opened and not moving. I quietly walked in and greeted her. I sat down in her wheelchair (with the third time being a success; sometimes in the wheelchairs there are beeping-alarms that notify the staff that the resident has departed from the seat of the chair, and my first two attempts at sitting down yesterday tripped the alarm) and by God's good pleasure was able to read to her the entire book of Galatians.

I have been thinking much about yesterday afternoon's simple reading of the Word of God. I realized that I often don't trust in the sufficiency and the power of God's Word to accomplish all that He intends. It was a great joy to read to her, in our own native language, the very words of our God. What a great joy for her to hear the truth that man is only justified by faith in Christ. That's what Paul preached, that's what the Galatians accepted, that is the truth that Christians love and cling to. "nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified" (2:16)

Secondly, I was able to serve a dear saint in the nursing home yesterday. Daphnia has steadily declined in health over the past couple of months, and yesterday I was able to get a hymnal and sing hymns to her. What is so neat is that (although she is suffering from alzheimers) while I was singing, she recognized the hymns and was singing along with me! Oh what a joy Christian fellowship is!

Please be praying for Daphnia. The Lord knows the number of days she has left (the same applies for both you and me) and as things are right now it doesn't appear as if her health will be regained. God has told us that He will complete the good work that He begins in the life of His people (Philippians 1:6), and what a joy it is to see this lived out every time I visit my friends in the nursing home.