Things go missing
PLEASE tell me that I’m not the only one who spends half my time looking for the things I have mislaid!
My mobile phone, for example, has a habit of going missing just as I am about to leave the house. That’s not too bad, because as long as I can locate the handset to the house phone, I can call the number to my mobile and then follow the sound to the place where it is hiding. Sorted!
The frustration comes when, having once had the car keys in my hand, in the frantic activity of looking for the mobile I appear to have laid them down – and now they are hiding!
My biggest dread is forgetting where I last took off my glasses as without them it’s not easy to focus on the task of finding them!
So is it just me? Or is it possible that some of this at least is a familiar occurrence for you too?
If that is the case, you should join me in being encouraged to know that Jesus saw some value in people like you and me because he used them as inspiration for some of his stories. There is a chapter of the New Testament (Luke Chapter 15) that is all about items that are lost and found. It is there that we have recorded for us Jesus’ parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost (or the prodigal) Son. His teaching here was prompted by the accusation made against him that he was a friend of sinners. Jesus told these stories in order to plead guilty to the charge!
The central teaching of this “lost and found department” of the Bible is that even at times when we forget God or turn away from Him, the one thing we can never lose is His love.
God goes on loving us, even when we make choices in life that causes us to feel ‘lost’ to Him and He is always there waiting and hoping for the day that we return to Him and ready to rejoice when we do so. As we read elsewhere in the Bible “Nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8 v39)
If this is a new idea for you, please know that you are welcome in any of the Christian churches in the area to hear more, or else check out the stories in Luke chapter 15 for yourself – once you’ve found your glasses!