In the year 2018 there were 15,498 murders in the United States of America. The problem with statistics is that you see a big number and not single lives. Think about that number again and think about every single one of those lives. Shot, stabbed, strangled, murdered…15,498 individual lives. That’s a lot of heartbreak, broken families, loved ones left mourning and countless lives living on amidst loss and hurt. But God sees statistics much differently than we do. God doesn’t just see a number, He sees a face. He sees a heart. He counts the hairs on the head. You see, God has an intimate relationship with every person that has ever been born upon this great planet. Why? Because He made us all, one life at a time.
Whenever I make something, I create a special bond with it. I remember back when I was a freshman in college, I wanted a new cabinet to hold my stereo, TV and laser disc player. Yes, you heard that right, laser disc player. The precursor to the DVD and the video disc was the size of a 12” LP. Hey, it was cutting edge in 1990. I was an architecture major and my Grandad had a huge cabinet shop, a match made in heaven. I carefully drew up my full set of plans and with the help of a master craftsman, I set out on my journey to build some high quality, custom furniture. I spent months on that entertainment center. Buying the wood, the hardware and the glass. Measuring, cutting, nailing and gluing. Sanding, finishing and then sanding some more. I became intimate with every nook and cranny of that cabinet. I knew it by heart because I had designed it, built it and created it all with my own two hands. Folks, God creates each and every person on this planet in the same way. Life is a gift from God, created by God and He cherishes each and every miracle of life that His hands produce. You see, before we were even a sparkle in our parent eyes, Almighty God had been planning us. He was at the drawing table creating us and had a plan for us. You see, we are not a number to God. We are one of His precious creations with a purpose to fulfill. A purpose that He made us to do.
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” Jeremiah 1:5a
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalms 139:13-16
Today in Deuteronomy 21 we see the importance God puts on each and every one of His creations. The first part of the chapter deals with murder and the shedding of innocent blood. Specifically, what to do when a dead body is found in the countryside with no clues as to what happened. Innocent blood has been shed. God does not simply get out a body bag and send it to the morgue, one of His creations to merely be forgotten and disposed of. No, He commands that a sacrifice be made for the wrongful death of one of His children.
In verses 21:1-9 we see Him command that the nearest town bring out a choice heifer that has never been yoked. The animal is to be sacrificed and the Levitical priests will declare that this innocent blood was not at their hands. They were to declare innocence in the taking of this life so that the guilt of the act would not fall upon their people. You see, it didn’t matter how the person died or when, what mattered was that one of God’s precious creations had been killed. You need to fully understand how much God values and cherishes each and every single life on this planet today. We can simply say that 15,498 people got murdered in 2018, but God in Heaven is mourning the taking of 15,498 of His loved and cherished, miraculous creations.
We have a tendency today to devalue human life in this wild west world we live in. Hundreds of people get shot every single day, so many that the news can’t even list their names. We see mass shootings so often that we have no choice but to simply shrug, unable to fully process the gross taking of innocent lives. We see death, violence and crime all around us and as a result we process it by becoming immune. But folks, God is not immune. Even one murder has God lamenting in Heaven for the loss. But there is a huge difference between physical death and spiritual death. We will all die a physical death one day, but when you do, your soul will live on. You see, God made us with a perishable body, but He made our soul eternal. The question is, when you die, where will your soul live on?
God made a way for your soul to spend eternity in His blissful presence in Heaven. But there is only one way to get there. Not two, not several, not your own way, not the way of the world of the way of one religion. Only one way.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
“No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:23
Today I pray that you have embraced the only way to see your soul spend eternity in the presence of God in Heaven. You are precious to God and His desire is to see you accept His Son and His work upon the Cross. He sent Him here to die for you. Call upon the precious name of Jesus and be saved from the death penalty of your sin.
But folks, if you have called upon the Holy name of Jesus to save you, your work is not done. You see, there is an entire world out there today that has not heard the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. It is for this purpose that God created you, to tell the world the good news of Jesus Christ. No one must perish, all can live in the glorious goodness of Heaven. But to do so, they must hear. In Africa, in Europe, in South America and all over Asia and India. All people deserve to hear about the miracle of Jesus.
The life God gives is precious to Him and it should be to us also. Life is short, we are not guaranteed a tomorrow, tell the world around you about Jesus Christ today.
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15
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