"Isaiah maintained this same emphasis: 'If each grain
of sand on the seashore were numbered and the sum labeled "chosen of God,"
They'd be numbers still, not names; salvation comes by personal selection. God
doesn't count us; he calls us by name. Arithmetic is not his focus. Isaiah had
looked ahead and spoken the truth: If our powerful God had not provided us a
legacy of living children, We would have ended up like ghost towns, like Sodom
and Gomorrah.'" Romans 9:27-29 (MSG)
Our Heavenly Father's focus is not on numbers, for
even though He is the greatest of mathematician, numbers mean nothing to Him.
Rather, He is a personal God who cares about us and wants to have a personal
relationship with each one of us based on genuine love. Despite the fact that He
already knows everything there is to know about us, the good and the bad alike,
He doesn't condemn us; rather, He loves us genuinely with a love so profound
that it is way deeper than anything we've ever experienced on Earth.
Because of His endless love, God's dream is for
everyone to be saved: "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth." 1 Timothy 2:3-4 (NKJV). After all, whether we are loving or lost, in
rebellion or not, we are His children, and He will always call us by name: "I'll
lead you to buried treasures, secret caches of valuables- Confirmations that it
is, in fact, I, GOD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name." Isaiah 45:3
(MSG).
Sadly, humans often prefer numbers to names. Remember
the Holocaust? All the prisoners at Auschwitz, for example, had no names.
Instead they were nothing but numbers. Much easier to eliminate something that
has no name. Who would ever miss 7925423?
While the Germans were busy eliminating the Jews in
Poland at an exponential rate, the pharmacy on Place Bohaterow Getta did the
exact opposite. The owner, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, was Polish, and despite the fact
that his pharmacy was on the main square of the Krakow Ghetto from which the
Jews were herded aboard trains and transported to the nearby Auschwitz/Birkenau
extermination camps, the Germans allowed him to continue his work as a
Pharmacist. What he actually did, however, was far more than simply dispensing
medication…
Each day Pankiewicz and his staff saw thousands of
Jews deported. He knew he had to do something, and he began to falsify documents
so that Jews could avoid deportations. In addition, he provided food and
medicine to the persecuted. These people were far more than mere numbers to him.
Rather, he saw their true value as human beings, beloved by God. Because of his
efforts, many, many Jews were saved.
Numbers may be fun, but getting to know others is way
more important.
"Good morning number 689945648."
"Who are you talking to?"
Rob Chaffart To contact us click here
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