Let me live that I may praise you,
and may your laws sustain me.
I have strayed like a lost sheep.
Seek your servant,
for I have not forgotten your commands. (Psalm 119:175-176 NIV)
Have you ever been lost? Separated from your parent or child in a grocery store? Took the wrong turn on the hike? Realized your addiction or depression or sin was not the place you wanted to be? There are lots of ways of being lost.
Jesus told parables about lost things.
A woman who had only ten coins – maybe ten days worth of wages – lost one. It wasn’t a huge amount of money, but it was important to her. She lit a lamp, swept the house, and then searched carefully until she found the lost coin.
A shepherd who had one hundred sheep realized that one was missing. He could have just ignored the lost one and stayed with the flock. However, knowing the dangers of a sheep without a shepherd, he left the 99 together, and sought out the one that was lost.
Losing someone you love can be frightening. You wonder if and when you’ll find them, and concern for their safety can quickly turn into fear or even panic. But these stories remind us of something deeper: when we are lost—whether physically or spiritually—our loving Heavenly Father seeks us out.
In Luke 19:10 (NIV), we read, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” God, in Jesus, knows who is lost—not just those separated from others or unsure of their direction, but those who are far from him. In his love, he reaches out to bring us back, often using others—sometimes people we know, sometimes strangers—to help find us.
No matter how far we’ve wandered, what dangers we’ve faced, or how deeply we’ve been caught in sin, our Good Shepherd loves us. He is always at work, drawing us from being lost to being found.
After each story, Jesus tells us that the one who found what was lost invited others to come and rejoice.
These parables were also a gentle but clear rebuke to the Pharisees, who were uncomfortable with Jesus welcoming “tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 15:1–2). While they kept their distance from those they deemed unworthy, Jesus revealed the heart of God—a God who searches diligently for the lost and rejoices when they are found.
If we truly love God and love people, then we will rejoice when the lost are found. No matter how far someone has wandered or how broken their story may be, heaven celebrates their return—and we should too.
Good Shepherd,
Thank you for your continued love for us and for the ways in which you desire for all to come to that love. Today we pray for those that are lost from your love; may their hearts be open to hear your invitation. May they be surrounded with godly Jesus-followers who shine your light and love into their lives. And may they respond to your love so that we will rejoice with all the saints and angels in heaven that the one who was lost is found! We pray this in Jesus’s name, AMEN.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all… (1 Timothy 2:3-6 NKJV)
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:1-10 NIV)