Most of us have lost our wallet at one time or another. Until you find it, it can occupy your mind…24/7. The other day, I couldn’t get my cell phone to charge. It would charge for a bit and then stop. I tried a few things and it worked for awhile, but then stopped. My mind was preoccupied with this phone. I rely on this phone a lot …. phone calls, texts, making on-line deposits at the bank, etc. While it’s certainly not the most important thing in my life, I rely on it a lot and it took my main focus…I’ve got to get this thing fixed.
I was reminded of the parable of the lost sheep in the gospel of Luke …. the man lost one of his 100 sheep and pulls out all the stops to try and find it. Hey, he still has 99% of his flock, take it easy. It even seems a bit unwise to risk leaving the 99 sheep in the wilderness to go looking for one sheep. You can see that the shepherd clearly values this one sheep by how he searches for it and then by how he rejoices when he finds it. Jesus equates it to the joy in heaven “over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance”. (Luke 15:4-10)
But what about the other 99… is he willing to risk the 99 for the one? I think the other 99 were safe.. they were in good hands. He wouldn’t throw away the 99 to find the one. He valued each of them. He was always keeping his eye on the 99 as he searched for the one.
I believe Jesus always has his eye on us. He may be diligently seeking out the lost sheep, but he never loses track of us. And if we start to wander off, he quickly pulls out all the stops to bring us back into the fold. And that is very good news.
Oh, by the way I figured out why my phone wasn’t charging. There was lint in the “charging port”. After watching a YouTube video, I used a toothpick and scraped out enough lint to make a small sweater. I’m at peace.
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