Truth Magazine

By John R. Hurt

Perhaps you’ve been there. It was a discussion with one of our brothers of the new or different emphasis. The same kind of discussion we are hearing so much these days. He was saying essentially “we need to be preaching more about Jesus and not so much on the church and doctrine.” I was trying to show him the importance of the Lord’s church and he just interrupted and said, “The church is just the people. We don’t need to be talking so much about the people. We need to spend more time preaching Jesus.” Well, I guess I don’t think near as fast on my feet as some of our preaching and debating brethren. Yes, I knew there was a good answer for his point but I couldn’t come up with it right then.

During the last two or three years I’ve come up with a lot of good answers to the question. However, a month or two ago I thought about Isaiah 9:6, 7. If I understand what is being said in this passage, the church is much more than “just the people.” The one who was to be born, who was to be called Wonderful Counselor, and Prince of Peace, would have “the government on his shoulders.” Correct me if I am wrong but I believe the government mentioned here is the church. Yes, the church is the people. The church though, is oh, so much more than just the people! The church is the organizational structure through which the “manifold wisdom of God” is revealed to all generations (Eph. 3:10). The church is the governmental body through which God’s people function here on earth. So what happens when the organizational structure is de-emphasized. The structure loses strength, crumbles and the message becomes perverted.

What happens when the government of God loses control? The same thing that happens when any government loses control anarchy  chaos, confusion, and finally revolution. Then comes the change in the form of government. In this government of men in which we live we have come to readily recognize these facts. Thomas Jefferson, I think, said, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” If this is true in a government of men, how much more so in the government of God! May we ever preach and teach he that is called “Wonderful,” “Counselor,” and “Prince of Peace.” May we also be ever vigilant to continually preach and teach the importance and nature of the glorious “government” resting on his shoulders. Of the increase of his government may there be no end!

Guardian of Truth XXXIX: 8 p. 4
April 20, 1995

By Dennis Abernathy

The word “goal” is defined by Webster as “the end to which a design tends; objectives, aim; an object or end that one strives to attain.”

In 2 Corinthians 5:9, we read: “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it” (NIV).

Paul made it a point to give constant effort; it was his leading and constant aim to live so as to please God and be found acceptable to him, whether he was to live or die. This should be the great goal or aim of the Christian!

In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul said: “. . . but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (NKJV).

Paul does two things here. (1) He is forgetting the things which are behind. Thus, the Christian must forget all that he has done and remember only that which he has still to do. There is no room for a person or a church which desires to rest upon its laurels or on what it has done in the past. (2) He is reaching forward and pressing toward the goal. It pictures, as it were, a racer going hard for the finish line. He has eyes for nothing but the goal, arms clawing the air, every muscle straining, with his head forward, and his body is bent and angled for the goal. He is going flat out for the finish. Thus, the Christian must forget past achievements and remember only the goal which forever lies ahead!

In 1 Peter 1:9, the apostle Peter says: “For you are receiving the goal (end) of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (NW). Peter is saying that salvation is the goal of faith, and its realization the end or design thereof!

Goals, aims, and objectives are ever so important. What honorable and monumental goals the Christian has! To please the Lord in whatever he does and going flat out to accomplish such, knowing that salvation is the end result, is his goal.

With these things in mind, let us look at some worthy goals that will help us to achieve the things we have just talked about, mainly, the salvation of our souls.

Individual Goals

We will first look at some individual goals. These are goals that will help us as individuals to reach our full potential in the Lord’s kingdom. They will help us fulfill our responsibility as Christians and as members of God’s family.

1. First, I will study the Bible more intently. We are to diligently search the Scriptures (Jn. 5:39), for that is where we learn of Christ. This is to be a daily or regular search (Acts 17:11). We are to study and search the Scriptures because they are from God and they are profitable to us in order that we may be complete and equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Therefore, we should give attention to reading and study (I Tim. 4:13), because it is the only way we can understand about salvation that is of God and through Christ (Eph. 3:1-6).

Surely, this is a worthy and honorable goal. What kind of Bible study habits do you have? What about your children? What about your young people? What’s more important? Math and science, and English, or the Word of the Lord? (See Jn. 12:48.)

Bible classes are for our benefit, as we gather to study the Bible and learn better how to serve the Lord. How is your class attendance? Is it regular with a desire to learn, or is it spasmodic at best? If many studied and attended classes for school like they do the Bible and Bible classes, illiteracy would abound.

An excellent attitude toward the Bible study is seen in Ezra 7:10: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel” (NASV). Ezra purposed, planned and determined in his heart that he would study God’s law. After studying and learning he determined that he would practice what it said, and then he put forth the effort to teach that law to others. Pretty good summation of what Bible study is all about, wouldn’t you say?

2. I will attend the church assemblies more regularly. We are not to forsake or give up meeting together (Heb. 10:25). We are to continue stedfastly and devote ourselves to worship of God (see Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Acts 20:7). Our regular assembling together helps us “draw near to God” (Heb. 10:22); helps us “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” (10:23); helps us “spur one another on” or “stir up” each other to “love and good deeds” (10:24); and helps us to “encourage one another” (10:25).

What happens when we are sporadic and hit-and-miss in our attendance? We, rather than drawing near to God, find ourselves slipping further away from him. Rather than holding unswervingly to our hope, we find ourselves losing our grip. Rather than spurring each other on to love and good deeds and encouraging one another, we become lax in our service and a discouragement and disappointment to our brethren.

Faithful attendance takes individual commitment and effort. We need encouragement to do it, and we receive it in meeting together, thus it is for our good and benefit. How committed are you to going to heaven? How committed are you to your children’s going to heaven?

Just a word here to young people. You must help your parents in this effort. Do your homework early, help with meals, get ready, get up out of bed. Young people, put the Lord first, for, after all, he put you first, didn’t he?

3.1 will give consistently of my money. The Bible teaches us to “give as we have prospered” (1 Cor. 16:1-2). We are to “cheerfully” give as we “purpose in our hearts” (2 Cor. 9:7). In doing the Lord’s work this should be a matter of “generosity” and not a “grudging obligation” (2 Cor. 9:5). But, having said that, we need to understand that God’s law of sowing and reaping comes into play here. Sparse sowing (meager giving) on our part will reap a “lean harvest” (2 Cor. 9:6). Our giving puts our love to the test. When we give as we should we show our sincere love for our brethren and for our Lord (2 Cor. 8:5,12; 9:13). We may pride ourselves in being “conservative,” but our giving is one area where we need to be “liberal” (2 Cor. 8:2; 9:13).

To put it very simply, I give to God because he gave to me. The Lord left the riches of heaven for my sake that I might through his poverty become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). Why shouldn’t I want to give my money to him? What are my goals? To save a lot of money? To buy a nice house? To drive a nice automobile? To wear fine clothes? To take nice trips? These things are not wrong. But, where does the Lord fit into my budget? Am I so concerned about laying up treasures here on this earth, that I neglect to lay up treasures in heaven (Matt. 6:19-21)? We surely need to examine our hearts. Am I so determined to lay up treasures for myself that I forget to be rich toward God (Lk. 12:15-21)? This is foolishness! Just what is my goal, my aim, my objective with regard to my money?

4. I will teach and invite more compelling and urgently. Early Christians “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). They taught publicly and privately. “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ” (Acts 5:42). We should desire the salvation of all we come into contact with and therefore we should try to persuade them to obey the truth. “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11). We must busy ourselves going out into the community urging, compelling and constraining people to come to the Lord (Lk. 14:23). If my attitude and love for the Lord is what it should be, “then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee” (Psa. 51:13).

The apostle Paul’s great desire was that Israel (his own people) might be saved and therefore he prayed and he worked to bring such about (see Rom. 10:1-3). We should do likewise.

Brethren, we are not teaching with the urgency we need. We aren’t talking with people about the Lord as we should. It is good to come to the building and study the Bible and learn our duty and learn how to teach, but such is useless if we do not go out and actually teach others! It is certainly true that little will go according to plan if we have no plan. But, it is equally true that too many dream and plan worthy accomplishments and goals, but far too few stay awake and actually do them! Are you praying and making the effort to teach your friends and neighbors and family?

4. I will live a more spiritual live. Our life is to be one of spiritual service and worship (Rom. 12:1-2). (See also 1 Cor. 3:1-4; 1 Pet. 2:1-5, NIV.) This involves living a sacrificial life and not patterning our life after this world. On Romans 12:2, J.B. Phillips translation has: “Do not let the world pour you into its mold.” A spiritual life is one of zeal and spiritual fervor. Romans 12:11, says: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor” (MV). The spiritual life involves growing through implementation of God’s Word and by rising above jealousies and quarrels which are evidence of acting like mere men. In fact, we are to crave the spiritual milk of the Word so that we can grow and be built into God’s spiritual house, offering spiritual sacrifices through Jesus Christ to God.

Spiritual life is different from “this world” life, even though we live in the world. In other words, we live in this world, but we are not of this world. The spiritual life is a life patterned after the Lord.

Dear reader, are you ready to pattern your life after the Lord; to live for him, sacrificing whatever you must to be pleasing to him? Are you ready to live a life of zeal and spiritual fervor, or do you want to continue along in the muddle of mediocrity? Are you willing to really be different from the world and to give up all friendship with it (Jas. 4:4; 1 Jn. 2:15-17)?

Congregational Goals

Now to some congregational goals. There are some things that the local church must do together. The church needs goals, aims and objectives in its collective work.

1. Grow in love, closeness and unity. “Let brotherly love continue” (Heb. 13:1). In Romans 12:9-10, Paul said: “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves” (NIV). We should sincerely love our brethren deeply from the heart (1 Pet. 1.22). If this is true of us, then we will give preference to one another. Our brethren will be special to us.

It truly is “good and pleasant when brethren dwell together in unity” (Psa. 133:1). Unity doesn’t happen just because we wish it, but we must “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).

Where you have unity, you have agreement. “Can two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (Amos 3:3) Thus, brethren must be in agreement, united in mind and thought (1 Cor. 1:10). As the early church was, so must we be. “And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul …. (Acts 4:32). “And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart” (Acts 2:46, NASV). Paul admonished the Philippians to make his joy complete by “being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose” (2:2, NASV). Peter says: “To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit” (1 Pet. 3:8, NASV).

Every church’s goal ought to be to grow in love and become closer as it stands united for truth and against all that is evil!

2. Grow in number. Numerical growth is good and to be desired. If we are seeking to save souls we are seeking to grow in number. Brother Hayse Reneau said he was enjoying working with a small church, but the only problem was that he wanted it to get bigger! That sums it up pretty well, I think. The more people that are saved the larger the local church and the more work it can get done. Thus, our desire ought to be that of the “disciples multiplying” in our community. But, of course that will take planning and effort on the part of the local church. The local church can grow spiritually and numerically if we will make up our minds, roll up our sleeves, and get on with the task.

3. Grow financially. The more money the local church has the more work it can do for the Lord. The Lord’s work not only takes everybody working together and praying together, but also giving together! The church can grow financially if the church has the proper goal and the proper motivation and understands the need.

4. Grow in mutual participation. That means every member doing his/her part. In a local church we all have different parts, but we all have a part. Some may have different responsibilities from others, but all have responsibility, due to being a part of a local congregation.

On the job, all must pull their load if there is to be efficiency. We understand that. On a ball team each must fulfill his responsibility as a part of the team or the team will suffer. We understand that. In the local church each member must do his/her part if the church is to function to its potential. Do we understand this? The preacher can do his work, but he can’t do yours. You can do your work, but you can’t do the preachers.

In Ephesians 4:15-16, we read: “grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (NIV). Every part or each member of the body contributes. Each member supplies. None is excused and none is useless. If the church is to grow each member must work efficiently. This calculates into every member exerting himself/herself to the fullest! This is the only way any local church will ever grow to its fullest potential. When members believe the same thing, when they work toward the same goals, and when they love one another, you have ingredients for successful growth in God’s kingdom.

Guardian of Truth XXXIX: 8 p. 8-10
April 20, 1995

By Randy Blackaby

From the classroom and television screen today come a barrage of messages to both teenagers and adults advocating “safe sex” in the midst of an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases. The message is powerful and powerfully needed.

Sadly, the message is distorted by euphemisms and failure to fully understand and teach what real safe sex entails.

As a result, the only real winners in the present campaigns are the condom manufacturers. Safe sex is being equated with getting men to wear “protection.”

Equating condom use with safe sex is ignorant euphemistic nonsense. Malcolm Gladwell, who has covered the AIDS epidemic for the Washing-ton Post, reported in the June 21 issue of The New Republic: “When condoms are used, they aren’t used very well, particularly by those who need protection the most. This fact has been obscured by the repeated and misleading use of the statistic that condoms are 97 to 98 percent effective as a barrier against pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. The number, however, only refers to those occasions when the condom is used perfectly, every time … Michael Rosenberg, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, recently estimated from available clinical evidence how much condoms in typical use among high-risk groups lowered the risk of acquiring HIV. His conclusion: about 30 percent. This is safe sex?”

So, then, if condoms are not the route to safe sex, what is?

A great first step would be an understanding of the purpose of sex. It is much more than a tool for making babies and being sensually gratified. Both of these results are possible, probable and proper under the right conditions. But sex, as it was de-signed by our Creator, was designed to join and bring into physical, emotional and spiritual unity a man and a woman.

Safe sex will require this unity. Only a monogamous relationship can provide this form of safety. Men and women are designed differently but compatibly. What one lacks physically or emotionally the opposite sex can provide. As a result, safe sex requires a heterosexual relationship.

You see, as terrible as the scourges of venereal disease and AIDS are, they really are the minor and peripheral issues in the overall matter of safe sex.

Many do suffer physical disease because of unsafe sex but more men and women suffer depression, heart-wrenching sadness and sense of failure, guilt, shame and emptiness. Divorce is one of the societal diseases destroying the family underpinnings of society as the result of unsafe sexual attitudes and practices.

So what is the answer? The prophylactic for physical, emotional and spiritual disease comes from our Maker. He commands us to “flee sexual immorality” and to view marriage as honorable and the safest route to safe sexuality.

Sex is more than a satisfying physical act. It is highly complex and gross damage to bodies and psyches can result from uneducated practices like pre-marital, extra-marital, homosexual and incestuous sex.

Safe sex can be achieved only through education. But that education must cover the whole picture of human sexuality, including its moral aspects. To equate safe sex with the use of a little roll of elastic plastic only shows the degree of gross ignorance that our society still has about sex.

Guardian of Truth XXXIX: 8 p. 1
April 20, 1995

By Jonathan Halbrook

Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth (Eph. 6:2-3).

When my father gave me an opportunity to write an article of special interest to young people, I chose the subject “Honoring Our Parents.” I have decided to present some passages that teach us to honor our parents, along with some observations about my own upbringing which helped me to understand the meaning and application of these passages.

Train Up a Child

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Prov. 22:6).

Parents are given this instruction by God to train up a child in the way he should go. I am thankful to God that I had two parents who tried very, very hard to do what this verse says. Now that I am 23 years old and living away from home, I hope I am able to hold up my end of the bargain and fulfill my responsibility by not departing from what I have been taught in God’s Word. God gave me two parents whose goal was to raise me as a Christian, and nothing but a true Christian, no matter what else I chose to do in life. They did not care if I was in the band, in drama, in athletics, or in any other good activity as long as it did not interfere with my faithful attendance at church or lead me to compromise my faith in God in other ways. With that understanding, they fully supported me in whatever I did.

It was hard for me to understand why my dad always would say that he hoped I was good enough to play high school sports but not good enough for intercollegiate sports. Now I understand that it was all based solely on my spiritual well-being. Young people idolize sports figures, but my dad believed most intercollegiate sports open the door to great temptations. With my parents’ encouragement, I went to Florida College where I not only received a good education and enjoyed plenty of intramural sports, but where I also made good, life-long Christian friends. I was spared the danger of being tempted to miss church services on long road trips as might otherwise have occurred in college sports.

As I look back on my childhood training, I realize we should honor our parents for trying to fulfill Proverbs 22:6. Because of that training, I know the right way to go in life even though my parents cannot go with me. I will have no excuses if I do not make it to heaven because I was brought up knowing the truth.

Teach Them God’s Word

Hear, 0 Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up (Deut. 6:4-7).

I was certainly taught what was right as a child. From my youth up, I was taught that there is one true God, that we must love him with all of our hearts, and that we must always listen to his Word. Bible lessons were always conducted in our home where Dad and Mom would sit down together with us to read and discuss the Bible one chapter at a time. We were taught memory verses from every book in the Bible. What-ever we may have learned in any one study session, if nothing else it showed where their hearts were as parents. There was a practical point they always wanted to get across to David, Deborah, and myself: Be a Christian, in the true sense of the word.

We were taught Christian conduct such as showing respect to our parents and other adults. We were taught to say, “Yes, sir,” “Yes, ma’am,” “Thank you,” and “Please,” because such expressions reflect the kindness and respect a good Christian should have.

I can look back and remember the people they looked up to, who their “heroes” or “superstars” were. You probably have not heard of most of them because they were not people like Michael Jordan, or Emmit Smith, or Ken Griffey, Jr. No. The way we admire these people is the same way my parents talked about people like Roy Cogdill, a fearless gospel preacher who would preach the truth on anything to anyone at any time in any place. They could tell you about his debates in defense of the truth like some children can tell you the stats of Ken Griffey, Jr. for the year.

My parents’ heroes included Kate Johnson, whom we all learned to love as such a nice person and a great cook. But all of that was secondary compared to her great faith which made her a true hero to my parents. She wanted to be at church so badly that she would come with severe back pains. When her back hurt so much that she could no longer sit, rather than leaving the service, she would just go to the back of the building and stand so that she could be a part of the service in spite of so much pain. (To learn more about her godly example, read my father’s article on “Kate Hankins Johnson, a Virtuous Woman” in the Guardian of Truth, July 7, 1994, on pp. 396-397.) Such people are my parents’ heroes, which just shows me what values are most important in their lives.

From my upbringing I have learned we should honor our parents for diligently teaching us God’s Word. But also they should be honored for reflecting in their lives the values, attitudes, speech, and conduct taught in God’s Word because this is a part of our training when we sit in the house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise up (Deut. 6:7).

Provide For the Family

For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children (2 Cor. 12:14).

My parents provided the best they could for me to meet my physical and material needs. My parents have never indicated any interest in being wealthy. My mother is still a housewife and homemaker even though we could have had more material things if she had taken an outside job. When I used to want something we could not afford, I would tell my dad to ask for a raise. He said we should be thankful for what we have and we can get by if we try. It has seemed to me that my parents have struggled to pay their bills through the years partly because my dad does not really care how much money he makes and partly because my parents seem to concentrate so much on paying their honest debts instead of using their money for vacations and childish things.

I have come to understand that David, Deborah, and myself are the greatest expenses my parents have, and this is what they have been concentrating on even when I have not understood it. Why have my parents had bills to pay? I now understand. I never remember going to school without adequate or proper clothes. I never went hungry because my mother is such a great cook. Perhaps I should admit some bias in that statement, but if you ever eat her cooking you will agree with it. The point is that I have learned to honor my parents because they have spent their lives providing the things we have needed as children rather than seeking things for themselves.

Parental Discipline

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).

The duty of this passage could not have been easy for my parents in my case because I did have a bad temper at times. Now I realize they had a valid reason for every decision with which I disagreed at the time. The reason was never to take away the fun out of life, as I foolishly thought, but always had to do with keeping me within the guidelines a Christian should follow.

Being raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord meant that I was taught that the work of the Lord is first in priority. Why did I miss part of the daily football practice sessions during the week of Vacation Bible School every year? Someone loved me enough to teach me what was of first importance. Why did I miss a high school baseball game so that I could attend all of my dad’s debate with Jack Freeman on the divorce issue in 1990? Someone loved me enough to teach me true priorities. Baseball is over and the one game I missed is forgotten but there is still error being taught on divorce in churches of Christ, and I will be facing that error for the rest of my life.

So that I could be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, my mother has loved her husband and her children as a keeper “at home,” as taught in Titus 2:4-5. My mother is a smart person and could have found many jobs outside of the home. But I thank God that she considered her work in the home as her full time job. I was part of her job and will benefit in many ways from her dedicated work for the rest of my life. I thank God that she did not find something else more interesting than her husband, her home, and her children.

My parents believed Proverbs 13:24, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” In fact, I think my parents knew this verse really well and it was a good thing they did when I came along. I learned to obey what my parents said because they said it, or else learned it through a belt, a switch, a hand, or whatever it took at times. Such discipline took place without abuse but with much love and patience. I am who I am today because my parents loved me enough to discipline me properly. At times I was stubborn, and it took a lot of this kind of love, but I am glad I had parents willing to do whatever it took to help me get the point. They did everything they knew to do to make sure that I would turn out to be a Christian.

I have learned to honor my parents because of their goal in life to raise their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” This is the training they have given to me in so many ways. This is the training I must never forget. Some day when I have a home of my own, it must be my goal to raise my children with this same kind of training.

Respect for Parents

Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth (Eph. 6:2-3).

I was taught to honor my parents by the training I received while in their home, but now that I am away from home, I have learned to honor them in a new way because of the training they gave to me. I sometimes do not think I will be able to do as good a job as they did when I have my own family. There have been so many sacrifices made on behalf of David, Deborah, and myself. I know what some of them are, some I have forgotten, and some I will never know about. Plenty of sacrifices were made and it is not enough just to say, “Thank you.” I cannot pay back to them everything that they have done for me. But I know the main thing they want for me out of it all is for me to go to heaven. I have learned out of it all that when I sin it hurts God, me, and my parents. I do not try to be a Christian for them but for God. But I love them because they taught me to serve God, to be a Christian, and to go to heaven.

I hope this article will not only help other young people to honor their parents, but also help parents to realize the importance of their work. Hopefully, all parents will realize that the way they act is a great influence in determining how their children will act. “Ahaziah the son of Ahab … did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother” (1 Kgs. 22:51-52). The old saying, “Like father, like son,” still holds true today.

Chances are, if the parents are alcoholics, then their children will drink alcohol. The same principle holds true when parents are weak Christians and try to get as close to sin as possible without actually sinning. Their children will most likely act the same way. There is always the temptation for young people to get close to sin, so it helps greatly when the parents set an example by seeing how far away from sin they can get so that they know with certainty that what they are doing is right. When children see this attitude and conduct, it instills in them a desire to want to do the right thing.

Guardian of Truth XXXIX: 6 p. 25-27
March 16, 1995