One of the things I often said after encountering Jesus personally was, “Jesus didn’t die for us; He died for me.” Of course, Jesus did die for all of us, but what I meant was that I wasn’t just one among the masses barely caught up in salvation — it was deeply personal. There were times I had seemingly random thoughts like, “If I were the only person on earth, would Jesus still have been crucified for me?”
Now, without hesitation, I can confidently say yes. Even though there are 8.2 billion people in the world today, to the God who created the entire universe, that number is like a speck of dust. There’s no number large enough to make it “worth it” for Him to die. It’s not as if one person is too few to die for, but billions would somehow justify it.
The core of the Gospel is this: God predestined us to be His sons and daughters before He even created the world (Ephesians 1:4–5).
That’s why He loved us — loved me — enough to give His only Son to die on the cross. Unless we truly understand that God regards us as His very own children, the death of His Son makes no sense.
A couple without children would never say, “You have so many kids, why not give me just one?” and expect to receive one. No matter how many children parents have, each one is precious. The value of a child is not something that can be calculated with economic logic. That’s why I believe without a shadow of a doubt that even if I were the only person on this earth, God would have still died on the cross to save me, His child — without any calculation.
On the first night of the Bible Conference, Pastor Sangjun Lee vividly and powerfully explained the love Jesus showed to save the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.
Listening to his testimony about how he visited a middle school student every week for two years — a boy who was wasting away in his room from game addiction and depression — I made two resolutions in my heart: “Lord, I want to be someone who loves even just one soul. And I want to find that one soul close to me.”
The two phrases that stayed with me were: “one soul” and “someone close to me.”
In the region of Gerasenes, Jesus and His twelve disciples, the board members of heaven, nearly died crossing the Sea of Galilee just to save a single man — a man possessed by a legion of demons, chained among the tombs, abandoned like an animal.
Everyone in that region had given up on him, waiting for him to die.
Yet Jesus risked His life to go and save that one soul. To Him, numbers never mattered.
I’m currently reading a book about the ministry of Heidi and Rolland Baker, who are doing incredible missionary work in Mozambique.
In it, they share something along the same lines: “The Gospel is loving God and loving the one person standing in front of you. Every miraculous story began with one person, one child. Like Jesus, it starts when we stop and pay attention to one.”
Loving the one person in front of me — that’s where miracles begin.
