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Few things drive me crazier than being unable to find something I’m looking for. I suppose we all at some point go through the same thing. We know “it”, whatever “it” is, has got to be there, wherever there is. I know I put it there, so it has to be there. I look, I throw things around. I look around some more. I asked my wife if she took it, or moved it, but still to no avail. Now I know that whatever it is I’m looking for did not grow legs and walk away, yet I still cannot find this item.

In my devotions, I was in Luke chapter 15. In this chapter, three parables speak to the question of why Jesus spent so much time with the sinners instead of the religious.  In all three of them, Jesus makes sure we understand that the item that is lost is essential to the one searching. The very first parable is about someone who has one hundred sheep, but one of those sheep wanders off. Now the owner has a choice, he can write off the lost one and be glad for the remaining ninety-nine that he has, or he can do what the man in the parable does and go looking for the lost.

Jesus is making a very powerful point with this parable. If every one of us has something that we value and we cannot find it, we will tear up the house until we find it. For the shepherd his flock is everything. For Jesus, every lost soul is His prized possession, and He was and is willing to do whatever it takes to bring every one of them home if they are willing to come.

The sheep is a perfect illustration of us. Sheep are not that bright, they follow one another without really knowing where they are going. They are scared easily and tend to just wander off. We are those sheep. Jesus, the “Great Shepherd” loved us so much that He came to earth to seek us out when we had no idea that we were lost. Like sheep, we just go off and do our thing, never really looking around at our environment or noticing that we are not where we belong.  Not only did He look for us, but He found us and to have us He had to purchase us back. The cost was His precious blood.

I must believe that after His resurrection and His ascension back to the Father, they rejoiced, because the sheep that were so lost, are now found. Today, the Shepherd still calls out to the lost sheep of this world, beckoning them to come home, to once again be safe and secure.

We have been commissioned by this same “Great Shepherd” to be a part of seeking out those sheep, those people who are lost, who have strayed as far away as possible from God.
This is why we must have a heart and a passion to seek after those our Lord seeks after. Then we must be reminded that when one does come to know Jesus as their Savior there must be great rejoicing. Sadly, we have the attitude of, “Yeah, let’s see if they are really saved” when we should be like those in the parable who call out for everyone to come and celebrate with them. For this one was lost, but now they are found, forever saved in the arms of the Messiah.