He loves you so much that He cares about everything that happens to you. He cares whether you are happy, He is sorry if you are naughty, and He is glad when you are good. He loves to have you do anything to please Him, and His dear eyes see you all day long, and He will help you to please Him if you ask Him. Besides all this, the Lord Jesus has died on the cross, to bear the punishment of your sins, instead of you. Should you not think it very kind if a little brother were to offer to be punished instead of the one who had done wrong? That is what Jesus did. He took upon Himself the sin of the whole world, that whoever trusts Him and comes to Him, may be forgiven, and may go at last to live with Him, and with God our Heavenly Father, in that bright and beautiful home which He is getting ready for all who love Him. Perhaps you ask, "Why does Jesus want you to come to Him?" When you have been naughty and are sorry, why does mother hold out her loving arms to you? Is it not that you may run into there and be forgiven and comforted? Is it not because she loves you? Does she not wipe away your tears, and tell you that she will not think of your fault any more? Does she not take you with her about the house, or in the garden, and show you by her manner how glad she is that you have come to her for forgiveness, and that you are going to try to do better? Well, that is just a little bit like the love of Jesus. He wishes you to come to Him, that you may have happiness and joy. He wants you to live with Him all day long, and walk about by His side; to go to Him in every trouble; to ask His help in anything difficult. You cannot see Him yet, but He is close to you all the time, and He can see you and hear you in an instant when you speak to Him. By and by He will give you endless pleasures at His right hand for evermore. "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child; Pity my simplicity, Suffer me to come to Thee. "Fain I would to Thee be brought, Blessed Lord, forbid it not: In the kingdom of Thy grace Give a little child a place." XII. "Follow Me" Soon after Jesus had chosen Peter and James and John as His disciples, He was walking near the lake of Gennesaret when He saw Matthew sitting at the place where the people had to pay taxes. For Matthew was not a fisherman, like the others, but was a taxgatherer employed by the Romans to collect money from the Jews. These taxgatherers were very much disliked, as they often took more money than they ought, and kept it for themselves, so that the Jews hated them and dreaded to see them coming. But the Lord Jesus chooses disciples from all sorts of people. He does not wait till we are good, to call us to follow Him; but He says to us, just where we are, at school, at work, at play, in the street, in the home, in the shop, "Follow Me."