How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum
of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the
sand; when I awake, I am still with You.
--Psalm 139:17-18
No matter how insignificant he may have been before, a man becomes
significant the moment he has had an encounter with the Son of God.
When the Lord lays His hand upon a man, that man ceases at once to be
ordinary. He immediately becomes extraordinary, and his life takes on
cosmic significance. The angels in heaven take notice of him and go
forth to become his ministers (Hebrews 1:14). Though the man had
before been only one of the faceless multitude, a mere cipher in the
universe, an invisible dust grain blown across endless wastes-now he
gets a face and a name and a place in the scheme of meaningful things.
Christ knows His own sheep "by name."
A young preacher introduced himself to the pastor of a great
metropolitan church with the words, 'I am just the pastor of a small
church upcountry.' 'Son,' replied the wise minister, "there are no
small churches." And there are no unknown Christians, no
insignificant sons of God. Each one signifies, each is a "sign"
drawing the attention of the Triune God day and night upon him. The
faceless man has a face, the nameless man a name, when Jesus picks
him out of the multitude and calls him to Himself. We Travel an
Appointed Way, 19.
