Issue 1769 Lagging Behind July 11, 2025
Mill Lake is home to many nesting pairs of Canada Geese. Last time I was there, I saw a family of ten, a family of three, a lone goose, and a family of seven.
In that seven, six of the goslings had already grown quite fairly large. The seventh was lagging quite a bit behind in development, so it wouldn’t surprise me if, before long, we were down to just six.
It didn’t matter to the parents that one was smaller than the other six. They were equally as protective of it and seemed to be just as diligent in looking after it as they were the other six.
That’s the way Christ is with us. There are many people whose physical, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual growth is stunted in some way or who, due to some situation in their lives, “lag behind” the group. Jesus loves all of them.
Some people who struggle in ways you and I can only imagine but Jesus loves them.
People are trapped in sin so deep that they will never get out without His divine intervention, but Jesus still loves them.
He loves us despite our sin.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8
This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3-4
He loves us enough to respect our choice to accept or reject Him.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Matthew 25:31-33
You see, He never “sends” anyone to hell. Everlasting separation from God is the natural consequence of our sinful nature; it’s where we all deserve to go.
He reaches out His loving hand to any and all who would take it to save them from the flames, but He never forces people to accept His help. He’ll keep His loving hand extended to the end, but only we can take hold of it.
As believers, He has given you and me an awesome task and an incredible opportunity. We get to participate in the process of being God’s extended hand to the world He loves so much.
We get to share the incredible love of Jesus with others. We get to share with Him in loving the unlovable and caring for those who can’t care for themselves. We get to tell people that there is hope in a dark and pain-filled world.
His love for people is so big that when we get an authentic taste of it, we should want to run out and share it with others. Will you do so?
Until next time, may you become so full of the love of Jesus that you feel you will burst if you don’t share Him with others.
Hallelu Yah
Be blessed,
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
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All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word.
Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”