“See that you do not look down on one of
these little ones. For I tell you that
their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of
them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to
look for the one that wandered off? And
if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than
about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.
In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these
little ones should be lost.” (Matthew 18:10-14)
Jesus looked out over the city of Jerusalem
and cried out, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone
those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as
a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke
13:34)
But when Jesus looked at Jerusalem, He did
not see a crowd of nameless, faceless people.
He saw the city as individuals, loved one by one.
That is the picture that Jesus drew in the
passage from Matthew above. It is a picture
of God who looks at the world and does not see the crowds as a great mass, but
as individual people, each of whom He loves deeply and longs to see in His
kingdom.
Peter declared that God does not want “anyone
to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) The key words are “anyone” and
“everyone.” They refer to individuals,
whom God knows by name and loves each one.
When we look at our cities with their masses
of people, many of whom are not saved, remember that they are not just
nameless, faceless people. Instead, they
are each known and each loved and each valued and each sought after by God,
just like we are!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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