LOST PRECIOUS THINGS

LOST PRECIOUS THINGS!

Luke 15:3-4

3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

4 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?

           Jesus gave a parable in which he lists three examples of lost things. The first was the most common among the shepherd Jews and would instantly connect with them emotionally. One lost sheep represented a significant loss of real and potential income. One sheep was very valuable and worthy of the effort required by a search.

When a Jewish girl married, she began to wear a headband of ten silver coins to signify that she was now a wife. It was the Jewish version of our modern wedding ring, and it would be considered a calamity for her to lose one of those coins.

Further in the story is the runaway son. Strangely, the father did not go out to seek the son. It was his love and goodness that haunted the son and caused him to return. He was of utmost value to the father but stubbornness would have made finding him only painful and futile. It was the force of the father’s own broken heart that, like a magnet, drew the son home. Nothing enhances a search like genuine love.

All three lost things were found and Jesus points out the joy and rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents.

Luke 15:10

10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Dear Lord, help us to see the value of lost things especially lost friends and lost souls. Help us to find them and return them to the fold. AMEN