Pastor Dan J.'s thoughts for November 7

One of my daily tasks, a habit that I love, is to give our four cats their treats:  crunchy little chicken-and-gravy-flavored morsels.  When I get out of bed, there are Priscilla, Naomi, Delilah, and Keziah — sitting in a row facing me.  If they were cartoon characters, this thought bubble would appear above their heads:  “Well, human, you’ve been up for ten seconds, so where are our goodies?” 

I suspect that the Lord Jesus felt much the same about his encounter with crowds that gathered around him from Galilee to Judea.  He loved to tell them stories about the Kingdom of his Father for one simple reason:  He loved them. 

As a result, he was never annoyed when they clamored for more of his parables — stories about prudent merchants and exquisite pearls, about poor widows and lost coins, about wealthy fathers and lost sons.  They, after all — the crowds — were the reason he had come in the first place.  As he stated,

The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Yet it was for more than great masses of people that the Lord walked on this Earth.  It is clear, from studying what he said, that it was primarily for the sake of every individual  in those crowds that he had come.

What that means is that his stories, his teachings, his reaching forth with the Kingdom of God were all done for one extraordinary reason:  He loves you.