Matins Devotion: May 1, 2026
Salvation is never faceless. When God gathers saints into His kingdom, they are never just masses of people stumbling in like crowds swarming the gates of Disney World as the park opens for the day. Even though Jesus tells Peter he will become a fisher of men, He tells him this to describe the size of the harvest, not the relationship our Lord will have with His faithful. To understand that, we have the sheep and shepherd metaphors. Likewise, when Jesus gives us the wedding feast parables where the master crams his festival hall full of seeming random passersby after the initial invitees reject the invitation, the point is not to teach that God will fill His kingdom with any unknown soul who wants in. It’s that He will give salvation to the gentiles who look like random nobodies in the eyes of the unbelieving Jews, those who deem themselves special but don’t want the special feast.
So, in the end, salvation is never faceless. God always knows every wrinkle on your face, every hair on your head. He knows the source of your every tear and knows how to dry them all. As our reading from Ephesians tells us, you are not a stranger or an alien, but a fellow citizen of the house of God. You are not just a random entrant into the kingdom. You are part of the Lord’s very deliberate construction, placed on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, placed where you are for a reason and a purpose, even if you can’t always see or perceive them.
The same Lord who spoke with Moses and Paul sees you, loves you, cherishes you as His own. You are not a cog in a machine or a body in a crowd. You are the precious saint of His kingdom, individually won by the blood of Jesus Christ upon the cross. You are God’s own child. And He is your loving Father.
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