11-16-2019

Good Morning All,

          Luke 15:8; “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?”

      It happens almost every Christmas.  My mother-in-law is very generous in her gift giving.  Yet rather than buying something she isn’t sure about; she chooses to give cash.  Every year, when the unwrapping is done, and all the paper is gathered up and in the garbage bag; someone panics.  Someone is missing the money from Grandma.  The frightened party changes from year to year but the expression is the same, sheer panic.  Soon everything is turned upside down.  All the garbage bags are dumped out and gone through carefully.  We go through every piece, until, someone excitedly shouts, “I found it!” Another Christmas is salvaged.

    Perhaps you have done this as well.  Most of us have.  We have misplaced or lost something of value or of importance, so we scour the place, we empty trash bags, turn pockets inside out, dump drawers; we search until we find it.  The greater the value, the harder we search.  If it holds some sentimental value, like a keepsake, we will go to all lengths to find it and retrieve the item.

    Our verse speaks of such a situation.  The coins here probably refer to the marriage headdress that a woman would wear.  So, in essence, this woman has lost her wedding ring.  She was desperate to find it.  So, she swept her house until she found it.  She would have gone to any lengths to find it and she would have been ecstatic when she found it.

    This verse also describes the search that God does for his lost children.  He will overturn every drawer, empty every garbage bag, sweep every speck up to find you and to claim you as his child.  He sent Jesus to pay the way and then he began the search for you.  He looks every place that you hide.  He looks in every corner that there is.  He knows your pain and your fear, and he seeks you out.  He will not stop until he finds you because you are of such great value to him.

    God loves you so much that nothing will deter him from seeking after you.  No matter how many times you get yourself “lost” God will keep looking for you.  He seeks you out and calls you back.  He looks in all the places where we fall.  He looks in the painful times and in the sorrowful times to seek you out, to pick you up and to place you back on your path.  No matter how lost or dirty or how much self-destruction that you have caused; God never stops loving you and looking for you and cleaning until he finds you.  You are more precious than jewels to him.  His love never ends.

God of all mercy, we are often lost and harmed.  We inflict upon ourselves much pain and sorrow.  We hurt others, we deny you and we make a mess of our life.  By your mercy, restore us we pray.  Be with those who do not believe that you seek them out.  There are none so lost that you do not constantly seek them.  Bring them to the full knowledge of your mercy.  In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret