Seeking and Saving

Have you ever misplaced something in your home?  You look in all the usual places and scratch your head.  "Hmm.  Where could I have put it?"  So you check the same usual places again with greater care.  Not finding the item, you now expand your search to very unlikely places.  Finally, sheer desperation causes you to search everywhere, thoroughly examining places you know the item should not or cannot be.  It is the value placed upon the item that drives us to drop everything and search until the thing is found.

Yesterday my wife and I had such a moment.  Of all things, we were looking for an important receipt.  At first Laura was the only one searching.  Before too long, I was knee-deep in the file cabinet searching carefully.  The search expanded through the office, bedrooms, closets, even the bathroom!  Finally, after looking for over thirty minutes, our search was rewarded with success.  Note to self:  avoid stashing receipts in shoe boxes.  That's a lesson I didn't think I needed to learn.  What was really funny is I was struck by how few places there were to look, and Laura was troubled by how much stuff we have!

Had it been a receipt from Hungry Jacks or Spotlight, our search would have concluded in mere minutes.  We would have shrugged our shoulders, resolved to put the receipts in the proper place next time, and moved on.  In this case, finding the lost receipt was critical because of specific information written on it, in addition to proving the cost and retail value of our purchase.  It reminded me of a parable Jesus told in Luke 15:8-10:  "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?⁹ And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!' ¹⁰ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

When the woman in the story misplaced one of her 10 silver coins, she did not wait for the light of morning to aid her.  When she first recognized her loss, the woman lit a lamp and searched carefully.  She swept the floor again and again.  She retraced her steps and checked pockets, looked in vessels, even examined under the furniture!  Her persistence paid off and she found the lost coin.  She rejoiced to find what was lost, and desired that all would rejoice with her.  Jesus summed up His point:  just like a woman searches for a lost coin and rejoices when it is found, so God and the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents.  The woman is not angry at the coin for rolling under the table.  She did not yell or threaten the coin with a time-out.  She was relieved and rejoiced because what was precious to her had been safely restored.

Our search for that dumb receipt yesterday has prompted the question:  how much value do I put on lost sinners?  I am willing to drop what I am doing to look for a receipt I feel is important, but how much effort do I put into seeking and saving the lost through sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Is it possible that Christians could value misplaced items over lost souls of sinners?  If we value people lost in sin like Jesus does, we will expend much effort in seeking to have them reconciled to God through repentance and faith in Christ.  God used this receipt episode to show me I need to value people more like He values them.  When we value others, we will invest time, love, and grace in them.

I thank God that He rejoices over those who are found, and with those who are part of His restorative process of justification and sanctification.  Luke 19:1-10 relates a compelling story:  "Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. ² Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³ And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. ⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house." ⁶ So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. ⁷ But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, "He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner." ⁸ Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold." ⁹ And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; ¹⁰ for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."  What more can be said?  I want to be like Zacchaeus and Jesus, not like all the complainers who despised God's grace.  Today is the day of salvation!