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I don't know about you but I have a terrible memory for names and I am aware that this is an almost unpardonable social sin. How delighted we are when someone crosses a room to speak specifically to us and effortlessly uses our name. We stand a little taller, feel more confident. I fear I struggle when I am forced to introduce someone I know to someone else I, perhaps, don't know as well. God has no such trouble and promises that our names are engraved in the palms of his hands (Isaiah 49:16). All those who believe are promised that their names are written in heaven, in the Lamb's book of life (Luke 10:20; Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 21:27).
Jesus pays close attention to those who are his and here has decided to give his disciples his undivided attention:
Jesus did not what anyone to know where they
were, because he was teaching his disciples.
What a privilege! Just as he called his disciples by name and sometimes sought their company exclusively so he calls us by name and seeks to spend time with us to teach us.
How many times I have been in a meeting when the worship has been wonderful, the sermon challenging and the fellowship inspiring. Then, in one of those kinds of meeting where everyone is given time to "share", someone stands up and shares something that has me, as well as others, totally puzzled. Perhaps he feels God is saying that we should stop neglecting our wives. Some in the congregation are wondering what this has to do with them because they are single and don't have a wife. Others might be wondering how to apply this message since they are wives! Still others might be puzzled because they thought they were getting along fine with their wife and are surprised by the revelation that all was not as well as they thought.
A leader stands and tactfully says, "Thank you brother. I am sure we will all think prayerfully about that", and God thinks, "I was talking to you! What are you telling them for?"
The Lord speaks to us in many ways, mostly through his word in Scripture,
but also through circumstances, other people, and by that still small
voice that impels us to act on what he is saying. Perhaps, like the
misguided brother with the long-suffering wife, we need to consider
what he is saying to us in private counsel with no one else in mind
but us. Maybe we need to face the fact that his love is so great that
he has something to say - even to me!
May we be found this week expecting to be taught by him, accepting that he seeks our company because he seeks our good and the Father's glory, asking, "What is God saying to me today, what would he teach me, and how would he have me serve him?"
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