There’s a story that haunts me. It comes out of World War II. The Nazis had gone into a little Polish village. They’d rounded up the Jews, and they put them up against the wall to machine-gun them. But, first of all, they made them dig their own grave. Now, these Jews, with their own hands, had dug a shallow grave. And then, that Nazi soldier took that machine gun and began to cut them down, and they fell like cordwood into that grave. A little ten-year-old Jewish boy was there with his parents. And, when the people began to fall, he fell also, but not a bullet touched him. He fell in the grave, and the blood of his parents drenched this little boy. He lay there like he was dead. They began to shovel the dirt over this mass of fallen humanity. The grave was so shallow. There were pockets of air. He could breathe.

He stayed there for a while, caked with mud and blood, then, after several hours, clawed his way out of that grave. This ten-year-old Jewish boy went to the home of one of those who was not a Jew in that community, knocked on the door. When the lady opened the door and saw him standing there naked, caked with blood, she knew that he was one of the little Jewish boys that had been marked for death. She screamed and said, “Go away!” She knew that it would be dangerous for her to harbor that little boy. The little fellow went from another house to another house to another house—the same story: when they saw him, they shut the door on him. Their hearts were moved with compassion to a degree, but they said, “No, you can’t come in here. It’s dangerous. Go away!” Finally, this little guy—cold, naked, shivering, caked with blood and mud—knocked on the door of a house, and a lady saw him and started to shut the door. He said, “Wait a minute. Don’t you recognize me? Don’t you know who I am? I am the Jesus you say you love.” “Oh,” she said, “my child, come in—come in.” You see, Jesus said, “Inasmuch as [you’ve] done it unto … the least of [one of] these my brethren, [you’ve] done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40)•

Do you love Jesus? If you love Jesus, you’re going to love what Jesus loves. Now folks, I’m telling you, it’s time we got serious about this thing called Christianity. It’s time we got the big rocks in the jar, amen?

Father, seal the message to our hearts, and Lord, speak to every heart. In the name of Jesus. Amen