July 11

Seeking Lost Souls

comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’ In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent. — Luke 15:6-7 BSB

Our Lord sought out sinners, not because He had anything in common with them, but because He wanted to bring them back from the far country they had wandered into. A straying sheep nibbles at the grass in front of it and slowly wanders away from the shepherd and the rest of the flock.

Is this a picture of your life? Have you been living for personal gratification, drifting along, unaware of the dangers that threaten you? Even if you don’t care for yourself, your condition stirs the deepest concern in Christ’s heart. You may never find your way back to Him on your own, but Christ is seeking you, and He won’t stop until He reaches you, rescuing you from the rocks or the thorns where you’ve become entangled.

The lost coin in Jesus’ parable bears the image and inscription of the sovereign, once clearly minted, but now it lies unused, tarnished, and maybe even defaced, hidden in the dust of a corner or a crack in the floor. The owner sweeps and searches every possible hiding place until it is found. This is a fitting image of the human soul, made in the image of God but buried in the dust of sin. The sinner’s hope is the anxiety in God’s heart, the God who leaves no stone unturned in His search to bring us back. He disrupts and overturns the house of our lives, not out of cruelty, but so that we may be restored.

Prayer

Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
He, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou drawest love from thee, who drawest Me.
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom will thou find to love ignoble thee
Save Me, save only Me?
Rise, clasp My hand, and come! AMEN.