Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Listen to the Word
Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” (Luke 15:4-6)

Imagine a role similar to being a shepherd: imagine that you teach a toddler class at church. And imagine that you have 100 toddlers in your class. A few minutes into the class one day, you conduct a quick head count, and you only come up with 99. One is missing! Would you leave the 99 unattended and go looking for the one that was lost? If you did, you would probably return to find that 23 more had gotten lost, several had started drawing on the walls with magic markers, and one was trying to flush his shoe down the toilet!

If God is like the shepherd in Jesus’ story, then finding us when we are lost is obviously a huge priority to him. He is so serious about finding lost sheep that he risks his own safety and the safety of the rest of the flock to go and get the one that is lost.

Live the Word
Ask God to help you share his passion for helping people who are far from him to reconnect with him.