God Is Paying Attention – October 23, 2019

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus.”
Luke 16:19,20

God Is Paying Attention

A teacher once gave her students the assignment of drawing a picture. “If you could be anything in the world,” she said, “what would you be?” As she was going through the pictures, she came across one that surprised her. One little boy had drawn a picture of a cell phone. She thought that was strange, so she called him to her desk and asked why he wanted to be a cell phone. “Because if I were a cell phone,” he said, “then my mommy and daddy would pay attention to me. They would hold me and talk to me, and they would even be excited if I accidentally interrupted them.” This little boy was feeling overlooked in his own home.

The account of the rich man and Lazarus reminds us that God does not want his redeemed children to feel the same way. We find that reminder when we consider something we know about the beggar and something we don’t know about the rich man.

We know the name of the beggar. His name was Lazarus.

We are never told the name of the rich man. He is simply called the “rich man.” Jesus identified him by how the man chose to identify himself—by his earthly wealth.

But Lazarus found his identity and comfort in something else. While his body was hurting on earth, his soul found rest in his loving God and in the promise that God would not overlook him when it came time to welcome his children home.

Your loving God will not overlook you either. He knows you by name. He proved his love by the sacrifice of his Son for your sins. Because of this, you can trust that when your time in this world comes to an end, he will call you home to heaven.

Prayer:
Father in heaven, thank you for seeing my need for a Savior and for meeting that need. May my soul forever find rest in the assurance that you know me by name. Amen.