The Benefits of Sacrifice

I am going to talk about another nature object lesson that our family gathered last Sabbath.  We were going for a walk and noticed this tree called a honey locust tree, and it was covered with these big seed pods as shown below.
  There are several lessons that we can draw from this, but I am going to show one lesson today.  As you can notice, there are 17 seeds in each pod and there is at least a hundred pods on the tree. Why does the tree make all of those pods? Well, each seed in each pod if placed in the right conditions, would produce another tree just like it. But the 'casualty' rate is high, in other words, there is a relatively low chance that the seeds are going to sprout into a tree. The seeds might be eaten by animals, or laid bare on dry stony ground, or subjected to a number of inhospitable circumstances. But do you think the tree says to itself, "Isn't it awful that only a few seeds sprout and grow from all the thousands of seeds that I produce? I think it is useless to produce anymore."
   That reminds me of what God has done for us. I am so glad that when the Father and Jesus His Son, saw that Adam and Eve had sinned, and that the human race had become lost, They did not deem it useless to send Jesus into this world to save us. What incomprehensible love! And to think, that Jesus didn't even know that there might not even be one soul or that would appreciate and accept the gift or at best several people might accept it.
  This reminds me of the parable of the Lost Sheep taken from Luke 15:4-7 which says,"What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me;for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance."  God thinks differently from Man. We tend to think that it is worthless to go to extreme measures to help just one soul. But God loves you more than we can ever imagine, and counted every soul worthy to risk anything!  I will close with this text from Romans 5:6-7,"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."  So Jesus died for us when we were still sinners and not appreciative of any of His Sacrifice. And it is very rare for someone to desire to die for someone who is righteous,but how much more for those who are crucifying you and don't care one bit about the gift you are giving them.  I cannot fathom such Love!