individually

Numbers 1:18 and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ancestry by families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually.   I was thinking this morning of how we live our lives individually.  There are billions of us and our human numbers are increasing.  But we have individual identity.  I stopped by an old gravesite this morning.  Some of the gravestones had no inscriptions and were very old...but one of these had been decorated recently with some kind of bouquet.  The person buried there was unknown to me but well known to another.  Another grave represented a man born the same year as myself and who had died about two years ago.  Someone had placed a golf club on that grave.  We live and leave our mark individually.  We find our identity in our families, our accomplishments and our faith.  I was struck by the value of each life as it is lived individually and was grateful that the Lord longs for us to know Him personally.  We worship Him in larger numbers.  We carry burdens for the world.  We are part of His body of believers.  But it is our personal relationship that distinguishes us as believers and that marks our worth in His eyes.   Psalm 33: 13 The LORD looks from heaven;          He sees all the sons of men.  14 From the place of His dwelling He looks          On all the inhabitants of the earth;  15 He fashions their hearts individually;          He considers all their works.   blessings, Rob Smith