Above the life of the children of the world one might place the inscription: _Nothing forgiven--everything in vain!_ Above the lives of Christians: _Everything forgiven--nothing in vain_. Isn't that so, then: Christians have glorious days! _What terms do you choose?_ 3. _During the Following Days_ It was a day of joy to Zacchæus when Jesus entered his house. But how were the following days? Undoubtedly there were days when the old greediness tempted him again. When the people of Israel in a miraculous way had been helped across the Red Sea, they were saved from the armed hosts of the Egyptians, but not from their plagues. The Egyptian soldiers had been drowned in the waves of the Red Sea, but the Egyptian temptations accompanied Israel across the sea and made the wanderings in the desert beset with hardships and difficulties. Indeed, they often, in their worldly hearts, reverted to the thought: _Would it not, after all, have been better to return and to partake of the plentiful provisions of Egypt than to fight their way laboriously onward to the promised land?_ Likewise the tempter undoubtedly has often whispered to Zacchæus: After all, wouldn't it have been wiser to _gather money than to give it away_ as an offering in return for salvation? But then Zacchæus in his mind reverted to that great day when Jesus for the first time was a guest in his house, and his thoughts have lived that day over and over again--No, never was I as happy as on the day when I gave half of my goods to the poor, and never have I been able to make as many people happy as on that day. The offering had not been given in vain. So the old greediness had to yield to the benevolent impulse. But that very same thought may come to you and me: Wouldn't it, after all, be wiser to get a lot of money together than to give it away in the name of the Lord to mission work, to churches and schools, to the poor, the sick and the suffering? No! And once again: No! For that person in whose heart greediness has triumphed, has lived in vain even though he may have gathered thousands of dollars. He has contributed to the increase of the _lifeless capital of mankind, but not to its joy of living, to its happiness_. But he or she who brings offerings in the name of Jesus, increases the joy of living and happiness of mankind by just that much. Perhaps he has struggled along laboriously to reach the promised land of joy and happiness. His life has attained a meaning both to himself and to others--and he has not lived in vain. THE MARCH OF EVENTS (LU. 24, 29) "ABIDE with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent."