Jesus Looks for the Lost
“I’ve been looking for him all my life.” With tears in his eyes, Bill Cordes spoke those words after being reunited with his younger brother, Robert. The men hadn’t seen each other for eighty years after being split up when Robert was just four months old due to a troubled family situation. Bill’s granddaughter helped him finally find his baby brother—someone he’d never stopped thinking about or seeking to find.
In Luke 15, Jesus told three parables of people who refused to stop looking for something or someone precious. In the parable of the lost sheep, He said to the Pharisees who were challenging Him, if a shepherd lost one sheep of his hundred, wouldn’t he “leave the ninety-nine . . . and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” (v. 4). His point? The Pharisees—the “ninety-nine”—thought they were right with God, but they weren’t. And Christ told them, there’s “more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents”—who turns from sin to God’s forgiveness—than for those who don’t think they need to (v. 7).
Our Great Shepherd never stops looking for us, and He’ll never stop seeking others as well. When we repent and receive salvation in Christ, there’s great joy in heaven—in God’s heart—because what “was lost . . . is found” (v. 32). And what joy we experience in being found by the one who sought us!
By Tom Felton - Our Daily Bread Ministries
Luke 15:3-7
3 Then Jesus told them this story:
4 If any of you has 100 sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won't you leave the 99 in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? 5 And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder 6 and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, “Let's celebrate! I've found my lost sheep.”
7 Jesus said, “In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over 99 good people who don't need to.”
