Matthew is a college student, living in the United States. However, his life story is different from most college students in this country. You might wonder where he came from.
Matthew doesn’t know who his real mother and father are. In the land where he was born, children who don’t have fathers to care for them are treated very cruelly. So when Matthew was just a very little boy, his mother left him on the street. With no father to work and earn money to support them, his mother knew she couldn’t take care of him.
Little Matthew was probably crying as she left him on the street, and in time he must have realized that she wasn’t coming back. He became hungry and went looking for food.
Would you like to eat food you found on the street? No, I’m sure you wouldn’t, and you probably will never have to. But no one was caring for this little boy, and not only was he hungry, but soon he was covered with dirt.
But did I say no one was caring for him? There was Someone who cared for that little boy and loved him. He is the same One who loves you and perhaps has given you a good daddy and mommy. His name is Jesus, and He was watching over little Matthew and knew all about his problems.
One day as Matthew sat in the street, Dr. John walked by. He was a doctor from the United States who lived in that foreign land. He saw Matthew and felt sorry for him. Do you know what he did? He picked up that dirty, hungry little boy and took him to his own house. He gave him a bath and food to eat. And best of all, this kind doctor kept Matthew in his house and cared for him as if he were his own son.
In many ways, all of us are Matthews. We are dirty with sin and hungry for love, until our loving God picks us up and washes us clean in the blood of His Son Jesus. And He brings us into His family to be His children forever! Isn’t that wonderful love! “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the [children] of God” (1 John 3:11Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1 John 3:1)).
Several years after Dr. John found Matthew, an uprising broke out in the country where they lived, and Dr. John was told to leave the country. When he applied for the papers he would need to travel back to the United States, he was told that he could not take Matthew with him. He tried his best to convince the authorities to let Matthew go with him, but they refused to give him the needed permission.
What could Dr. John do now? He loved Matthew as his own son and couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him behind! Then he had an idea.
He went home and gave Matthew some strong medicine that made him go to sleep. Then he put Matthew inside a dog cage and carried it to the airport. Because of all that was happening in that country, there was so much confusion that the ticket agent didn’t notice that it was a child in the cage instead of a dog. Matthew got loaded onto the airplane in a dog cage!
Now, I don’t know if Dr. John was a Christian. Perhaps if he were, he would have asked the Lord Jesus to show him what to do. The Bible says, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:2727And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. (Luke 18:27)). And the way the Lord Jesus would have directed would not have been deceitful. But what we do know is that Dr. John loved Matthew so much that he risked his life to save the boy. If the authorities of that land had discovered what Dr. John was doing, he would have been thrown in jail and killed.
Have you read in the Bible that the Lord Jesus actually gave up His life to save you and me from a future far worse than the one that Matthew had faced? Without the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, each one of us faces a terrible, unending eternity being punished for our sins. But we have an opportunity right now to have that terrible future removed forever! Jesus went to Calvary’s cross on purpose so that He could save us from our sins. He took that punishment in place of each one who accepts Him as his or her Saviour. His arms of love and forgiveness are outstretched to you right now. Will you accept His wonderful love and forgiveness?
ML-07/22/2007