Two Tiny Hands, Two Tiny Feet, One Big Heart

Yesterday my friend and neighbor Jessica went into labor. Yes, quite appropriately on labor day! And she and her husband now have another adorable baby boy... healthy and small and perfect. I was so excited and happy for them that I walked to the store and bought them a card congratulating them all on the addition to their family.

The card I found, which I can only hope they liked as much as I did, read "Two tiny hands... two tiny feet... one big heart, although small in size, so pure, so innocent..." I'm sure I'm forgetting some words in there, but what stood out to me was the heart. It made me think of how beautiful it was to how everything that God creates is so good- the baby's heart is so pure and innocent indeed.

And when I read this verse this morning, it just amazed me:

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

"Justified" is another Bible term that merits a definition. "Justified" means 'having been made righteous before God.' That is only helpful if we know what 'righteous' means, so let's try again. It could be stated as 'having been made virtuous and without sin by God'. And yesterday we read about reconciliation without ourselves. But Romans mentions 'reconciliation' to God, which is like being 'restored to God'.

So let's put this together. We are restored (reconciled) to God, because Christ's sacrifice makes us (justifies) pure and without sin (righteous).

Now especially after reading Romans, I understood what God does for each of us. But after thinking about my new little neighbor this morning, I couldn't help but think... Wow! God is so great and powerful and wonderful and benevolent! He not only is able to create a perfect little baby with a heart so pure and innocent. He is able to take a sinner with a heart that is torn, filled with conflicting motives, and make it once again so pure and so innocent.

Lord, I pray that once again today you would pour your love out into my heart through the Holy Spirit. Make my heart once again pure, innocent and righteous before You, so that I may be restored to You... Yours all day long, every day.... in all I do and say. Amen.