| Luke 19:10 – “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” |
Over the past month, I have lost two socks. Just in the process of wearing them, taking them off, putting them in the dirty clothes basket, transferring them to the washer, then to the dryer, then to the folding of clean clothes area, then into my sock drawer. I don’t believe they have left the house. So, where are they?
I mentioned it to my wife (who handles them a lot in her doing laundry). “Check beside the washer.” So, this morning, I looked, and there was one of them, gathering dust. I celebrated my find. I get happy when I find lost things. Then I sat on our cedar chest to put my socks on my feet.
I was getting dressed to meet the day. I saw this gap between the cedar chest and our bed’s footboard. I stuck my arm down there, and pulled out the other sock. Clean, and ready to wear. Those pesky socks end up in the strangest of places. I was really happy now. Two lost, and two found. I just had to pretend like I was a helpless sock, being carried around and handled by the humans. They didn’t just walk off.
Jesus tells about a woman losing a coin, She had 10 of them. Now she is down one. She did not rest until she found it. On the floor. It didn’t walk off.
Then a shepherd has 100 sheep, and when he counts them, he stops with 99. One is missing. He leaves the 99 to go looking. And he finds it. This one did walk away. It wandered off and got lost. Couldn’t find it’s way. He carried it back.
Then, a man with two sons. He loses one. He intentionally leaves home, squanders his inheritance, and in the end comes home.
In all three cases, there is joy at finding what was lost. The coin could become lost again, the sheep could wander off again. But the son, I don’t believe he got lost again. He learned how much his father loved him, and how good his father’s household was for living a good life.
Father in heaven, help us to find lost things, and to never be lost ourselves! In Jesus’ name, Amen!
-Jeff Beall
