This story is about a boy named Pedro. He lives in a very large city in the country of Brazil. Pedro was born blind. Even worse, his mother did not love him. Sadly, she was more interested in her own pleasures than in her tiny baby. She did not take care of him at all. She did not feed him, wash him, or cuddle him close. Poor little Pedro! Only an old granny came to give him a little to eat. Because he could not see, they thought he also could not hear, so they didn’t talk to him. Since no one talked to him, his body grew but he never learned to talk. Poor Pedro was left lying on his back for nearly five long years. If the old granny had not fed him a little, he would have died. Who could love a little boy like Pedro with so many problems?
He was often sick with his tummy full of worms and his blind eyes red and sore with infection. If you had seen him lying there, you might have thought it would be hard to love this poor, blind little boy who was so sick and dirty.
Not far away in the city where Pedro lived was a Christian couple, Juan and his lovely wife Julia. They had two beautiful children. They lived in a nice home, but best of all, because they read the Bible and believed it, they were a happy family. The Lord Jesus had washed their hearts from sin and brought many joys into their lives. Because their Savior, the Lord Jesus, had done so much for them, they wanted to help others. They prayed, asking Him to show them someone they could help. Perhaps they could bring some child into their home to share in their love and happiness.
As they were praying about this, a friend told them about poor, blind Pedro who was now almost five years old. The old granny had died, and now there wasn’t even anyone to give him a little food. Pedro still lay on his back, unable to sit up or talk or see. Juan and Julia felt that this must be the Lord’s answer to their prayer. They went to see Pedro. What they found was a very sick little boy, dirty, blind and unable to talk or walk.
Would you or I have turned away, not even wanting to look at that poor little boy? Juan and Julia didn’t. They took him home to be their own son. They washed him and fed him and made sure that he got all the doctors’ care he needed. What a happy change happened that day for Pedro! He was taken from his lonely, sad life in that dark hut and made a son in a loving family in their happy home. Pedro learned to sit up and crawl and say a few words, and he received the best care that his parents could give him.
I see in poor Pedro, before his loving parents adopted him, a true picture of what each of us is like when we are born, even if we have a wonderful home. God says that those who don’t know the Lord Jesus may not realize it, but they are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:1717Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (Revelation 3:17)).
The good news is that God loves you, and He wants to adopt you into His family as one of His children, to care for you now, and to have you share in all the riches of heaven and the joys of His happy family forever. “Behold, what manner of love the Father [has given to] us, that we should be called the sons 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)). Come to the Lord Jesus today to receive the forgiveness of your sins, and God will welcome you into His family as one of His happy children.
Messages of God’s Love 7/16/2023