Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
-Luke 15:1-10 (New Living Translation)
We're studying, this week, about walking as Jesus walked. Today, we're going to see that Jesus walked in love. We're going to go more in depth on these verses tonight on Talkin' Scripture, so please plan to join us LIVE at 6:30pm ET.
Verses 4-7 reveal to us a parable, a story, that Jesus told to grab His listeners attention, and make them think. "“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!" Jesus is teaching us of the love of God toward us. He tells of a man who had 100 sheep. The sheep were his livelihood, and then one disappeared. Instead of writing off the 1 that disappeared, the rancher went off searching for it. Verse 5 says, "And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders." The rancher will search for the lost sheep until he finds it.
How many times have we strayed from God? How many times has He came searching for us? The point is this: God is willing to leave the 99 people who have never strayed, to search out the one who has. And not only to find that one who has strayed, but to bring them back to where they should be. That is how much God loves you. It would be easy to just write off the 1 who strayed, but God loves you so much, that He's willing to risk everything to bring you back safely. Who have you written off as being too far gone to be found? Are you that one? Who can you show the love of God to today?
~Think About It~
No comments:
Post a Comment