Pastor's Ponderings, November 13, 2018

God Desires A Close Relationship With His Children

David Lohr, in the November 12, 2018, Huffington Post, wrote an article entitled, “Search For Missing Teen Hania Aguilar ‘More Urgent By The Minute’. Someone forced the 13-year-old into a vehicle outside her home.   Her mother’s agonized pleas for her safe return were heartbreaking. According to the 2017 NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statisticswhich is a compilation of statistics from the National Crime Information Center’s Missing Person and Unidentified Person Files for 2017, there were 441,165 juveniles under 18 missing.

All of these have a painful story. Perhaps they were found, perhaps they never returned. Just like this poor mother desperately wants her child returned, our Saviour Jesus Christ wants all of His children with Him. In the Bible, Jesus said that He was going away to prepare a place for those who love Him to be with Him always (John 14:2-3).  God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, and Jesus gave His life for all of us so that we might be escape Hell and live eternally with Him (John 3:16).  In the Bible, God calls us His children (1 John 4:4).  We are His heirs adopted unto Him (Romans 8:17a). Even though Jesus was about to go to the cross, He declared that He eagerly wanted to be with His apostles (Luke 22:14-15).  

Thousands of children are missing and God loves and cherishes every one of them. The Evil One comes to kill, steal, and destroy while Jesus wants us to have His abundant life (John 10:10).  When we think about missing children, let us remember all the lost souls that God is thinking about and not wanting any to perish, but to have that relationship with Him (2 Peter 3:9). Let us tell everybody about His desire for everyone to be with Him throughout eternity.

John 14:2-3
New International Version (NIV)

2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

John 3:16
New International Version (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 4:4
New International Version (NIV)

4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world

Romans 8:17a
New International Version (NIV)

17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Luke 22:14-15
New International Version (NIV)

14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

John 10:10
New International Version (NIV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

2 Peter 3:9
New International Version (NIV)

9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.